


Love Struck Trouble Busters

by TsundereNoire



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 41,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21559042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsundereNoire/pseuds/TsundereNoire
Summary: Nico is reaching the realization, that her thoughts on a certain junior are developing in a dangerous direction.The super idol is juggling multiple responsibilities at the same time. As her behavior changes towards the redheaded pianist, it just gets harder for her to keep an appropriate distance towards her.
Relationships: Nishikino Maki/Yazawa Nico
Comments: 38
Kudos: 87





	1. The awakening

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this as I wanted to write something nice to post for Nico's birthday, but I was kinda unsatisfied  
with all and then I forgot about it as I still struggle quite heavily with writing in English as it ain't my mother tongue.
> 
> I want to express my appreciation for my absolute favorite ship of all time, so I went with it and tried to make something decent as I was inspired by the many absolutely amazing pieces written by others. 
> 
> I hope you guys can enjoy it, if just a bit.

Her heart was racing painfully. Pressed against the sheets of her just newly made bed, Nico let out a small whimpering moan as she felt a burning touch on her body.

The progressed night caused a nearly full abstain of light from her room. Irregularly, a small glimmer of light cast by the full moon enlightened the place for a brief moment just to disappear behind a wall of foggy clouds yet again. A quite howling reached her ears from outside the window, the wind pressing through an open window, just barely recognizable over the whimpering sounds created by the air escaping her lungs. In the blink of an eye she could make out red silky hair glimmering, hovering right over her body while a pair of big gentle and sparkling amethyst colored eyes lustfully gazed down on her unprotected body. _Ba-dam... Ba-dam_... Her heart began pounding even faster and yet even faster as she felt a touch wandering down her body burning a path on her pale skin, making it’s way down from her cheeks, to her chin, down to her collarbone and then slowly and teasingly to her breasts. The silhouette of the girl hovering above her mesmerized her. She gasped out loudly, something big and unnatural started building up inside her, overwhelming her and robbing her of every clear thought. This odd feeling rushed up her body like a stream of hot magma trying to escape the chamber it was kept in for almost eternity, carving out a trail through her torso. While the pain inside her chest began to become unbearable, the rest of her body was flooded with excitement, mixing these two opposing feelings into something completely new and unexpected. Torn inside between these two gigantic experiences, Nico lost all remaining willpower, failing to resist the urge to reach out her hand and...

Comically, the raven-haired girl jumped out of her bed. Drenched with sweat and fully out of breath as if she just had the workout of her carrier. She let her gaze wander around arbitrary. Her confusion did fall flat as she started to realize the experiences echoing in her mind were just some sort of weird dream as the echo slowly looses it’s structure, making it harder to recollect her memory. The realization hit her, to equal parts relieving as well as saddening; embarrassing nonetheless.

Nico moved her head slowly to her side, reassuring that there is no one sleeping next to her. _Just to be safe of course!, _she thought, exhaling in relief. Briefly after the tension in her back lifted. But as fast as she calmed down, she started heating again, revisiting her nightly thoughts once more. _Why was she so relaxed?_ Nico was absolutely sure she just pictured an intimate moment with Maki of all people. The gorgeous red-haired beauty and piano prodigy wasn’t just part of the same idol group as Nico, but also one of her closest friends. _Friends. _However, recently Nico became highly self-conscious in her presence, regularly becoming flustered.

With some hesitation the young idol puts a finger on her lips. She could still feel the _sadly __imaginary_ touch of the other girls lips pressed against hers. Slowly, she trailed down the same path Maki _supposedly _followed according to her vague, still intense memory. As she almost reached her destination, she stopped abruptly, her face turning pink and red in wild fashion. Immediately, she jumped back onto her bed, burying her face into one of her carefully stacked pillows. _Stupid. Stupid Nico!_

The small girl really cared for the other members of her idol group µ’s… especially Maki. She just never pictured their relation as something different from friendship, ... at first. Surely, she had a somewhat deeper bond with the red-haired first year, but that was just normal, right? The memories of her moments with µ’s started to invade her brain.

The moments of her explaining the importance of idol behavior to everyone… _Well, at least_

_Hanayo already knew some ground rules. _

The time, where she followed them undercover…

The countless hours of training…

Maki in the music room…

Their first live performance…

Maki in the music room…

She painted a scene of Nozomi smirking at Nico trying to tease Maki. Maybe she wasn’t paying enough attention before, but she felt as if the purple-haired girl may have referred to Nico’s teasing as _lovers quarrel_ before. Not that she cared for the comment so much. At least… before she was confronted with the livelihood of her subconsciousness. She started blushing again. _Why did she start to excessively tease Maki in the first place?_ Obviously, she knew the reason she began to. She rather wondered when the reasoning for it changed. She sighed, over-dramatically. _Distraction! _

With a few quick moves she reached for her phone and checked the time. She did wake up 30 minutes before the alarm was expected to go off, which was welcome in a sense. _Guess, I need this time to shower __the sweat of anyway, _she realized. With a lot of heat and some exceptions to her usual routine she prepared herself for yet another day of school… and the following training with µ’s.

It was around one week since all members of µ’s went to a _training trip_ to one of the Nishikino’s holiday residents. A suggestion by µ’s leader Honoka has turned out to be quite a good deed to the groups morale, progress as well as team bonding. Even the strict _no Senpai _rule was a useful way to remove the border between the first, second and third year students. Maki was glad she did not hesitate to bring up her families beach residence… or her parents to decline her request to use the place. But for now she was exhausted. Like, really exhausted. Admittedly, she did a lot of work since she not just exercised with the other members of µ’s, but also needed to come up with compositions for the group. Naturally, she really enjoyed composing and sharing time with the others as well as pushing herself a bit, it’s just a little different when deadlines are involved. Not to mention, she really wanted some breaks from sitting on each other at least a few times in the short time frame. Again, natural due to the fact, that Maki enjoyed the time alone with her thoughts equally much. But for now she is back at home and can cherish her regained freedom.

Maki sat down on her piano bench, quickly folding back the cover of the instrument. Despite being a few days away from the grandé, no dust settled on the keys or the cover itself thanks to her parents maids. A mix of glaring white and shining black keys emerged from the protective cover. She was not really in the mood for a warm-up session or even playing something exhausting, so she decided to just play what came to her mind. For today, she was not too interested in playing one of the classical pieces she picked up recently, thus she began to reiterate over a few of her favorite µ’s songs. Her lips curved into a smile, entertaining the thought, that there will be even more songs to add to this collection soon, presented in a vivid choreography by all of µ’s.

“Nico, wait!”, Honoka yelled from the club room, but Nico was already halfway through the hall.

She did hear a few pairs of steps behind her, marking the moment she decided to change gears, turning into a rabbit once more. _Too late!_, she though as Nozomi utilized the groups cat.

“Nyaa~. Nico, come back.” echoed through the halls of Otonokizakahigh school.

Surely, they – or rather Rin – will catch her at some point, but at least she needs to build up some distance for now. She is not ready to face Maki right now! So she ran through the hall... down the stairs... over the campus... to the gate… – _Nico is fast!_ – but Eli already stood in front of the gate blocking her passage. For a split of a second, she was intimidated by the large, blonde girl. _Not today! _she thought, with one last push she tried to pass the blonde, but the chances were slim, _too slim._

“Fine, I give up. Just let me go!”

“We both know, that you will try to escape as soon as I let you, Nico.”

“I wont run. Just… It’s getting embarrassing.”

“Fine.”, Eli said as she relaxed her grip slowly, ignoring the attention she drew from bystanders over the scenery.

“What did even happen this time?” she added firmly.

Nico bit her tongue on the way Eli focused to pronunciate _this time _to make sure, no curses escaped her lips, since she had no intention of making her situation worse.

It was a normal school day for Nico._ As far as one could picture “normal” when you just woke up to a weird dream involving you and one of your fellow club members in an intimate moment. _Nico tried to ignore all of these disastrous thoughts and concentrated on the lessons for once. Hey, at first it went very well. Nico might even become on of the better students if she would have payed attention as frequently as today. _Maybe even reach Maki levels of greatness! _But today was also one of Nozomi’s special days of sticking to poor Nico and sucking up all of her energy for the day. The same energy she surely would have needed for a later confrontation with Maki and µ’s training session.

Unfortunately, the fortune teller developed a skill of easily reading Nico’s thoughts just by looking at her. Furthermore, Nozomi wasn’t completely unaware of her situation with the pianist. She probably was more aware than Nico at some times. So Nico was only capable of hiding her current thoughts at best. Especially since the _training camp_ they had a few moments in which Nozomi was showing Nico with a few suggestive moves about her awareness of Nico’s rather _unusual behavior_ in presence of the red-haired first year. On the trip, Nico was sweating about the nightly sleepover a lot. As she knows, this is the time girls are talking about various things. First and foremost _love. _Luckily, she could avoid this dead flag, since despite her various set of abilities, her acting does lack fine-tuning in presence of a specific someone – recently.

She may have not been fully aware about her feelings by then, but she surely wouldn’t be all to immune against questions revolving around _this_ topic. Again, by some slim odds, she managed to escape due to a pillow fight shifting the mood before it could get dangerous – initiated by Nozomi. Was she helping her out or was there a different motive all together? Nico never thought about the ulterior motives of the goddess of chaos, but in the end there would be no way to tell anyway.

At first, Nico felt at ease during the sleepovers. However, at some point she went to the bathroom and caught herself plotting to drop in Maki’s futon instead, playing it of as _mistakenly falling in the wrong futon._ _So cute, tehee. _Surprised by her own thoughts, she tried to win some distance since lately she got embarrassed easily in Maki’s presence. She wasn’t really succeeding in this discipline and every time she gazed too long into the pianists direction, she felt the smirk on Nozomi’s lips. She may have been especially cautious about Maki eating her home-cooked food on the trip, but Nico needs to make sure, that her best friend is eating enough, since she looks so pale at some points. Also, what sort of food do the chiefs of the Nishikino household prepare in order for Maki to be so satisfied by Nico’s simply cooking? _Home-cooking but nonetheless._

Over the following months, she developed almost an urge to play around with Maki, testing all borders, but as soon as she started, her teasing spiraled into being more direct and less subtle. When she jokingly said something like _Nico becomes jealous when you only spend time with the other first years_ she doesn’t even need to act the part, since she somehow means it. If Nico needs to be honest, she really enjoys it, when the red-haired girl counters her, but sometimes it hits close. But today was different, since Nico had this dream and Nico really wanted to proof, she could just act normally in school, removing the fortune-tellers suspicion from the equation, but she made it worse by picking on Maki a little bit too much. The logic behind it was flawless, right? When Nico shows, she is just arguing with Maki as always without backing up or turning red like one of Maki’s favorite tomatoes, then everything would be fine, right? _Take this, Nozomi. _However, as expected of the Nr. 1 Idol of the world, she was a little bit too ambitious and did hurt her opponent quite a lot. In fact, she could feel, that Maki was almost shedding tears. She really didn’t mean it. As Nozomi casually mentioned, Nico should treat her _previous Darling_ with care and then… Suddenly she realized, that by running away she might as well admit her feelings in front of everyone. _Did she? _

As Eli stopped suddenly in front of a bench, Nico dared to look up for the first time since she got caught. Even though, she promised to not run again, Eli had a firm grip around her arm for the entire duration of the walk. Honestly, Nico did not care about the weird gazes of other students looking after them as she was literally dragged to the bench by her classmate, but she was somewhat hurt, there wasn’t enough trust between the two, that Eli allowed her to walk on her own.

As soon as Nico scanned her environment she sighted a girl with purple-haired twin tails walking over to them. Nico frowned at her. With a quick wink Eli signaled Nozomi to come over to them so they could talk.

Okay, Maki expected a lot from Nico. She can’t deny that she doesn’t understand the small girls position, but playing down Maki’s effort for the group accusing all her achievements to be just _part of her benefits of being a rich girl _and _having no actual talents _(in front of all) hit her harder than expected. Since Nico did flee afterwards, everyone was either chasing the twin-tailed girl or was at least being busy with observing the spectacle. Maki could reenact her posture and whip away her nearly established tears.

“Are you okay, Maki?”, Hanayo initiated after a few moments of distraction, noticing her classmate sobbing.

“Uhm. Yes. Why?” she stammered, not expecting anyone to talk to her in at least the next two minutes, yet here she is, confronted by her dear friend Hanayo at least one minute too early to clear out the mess which established on her face.

“You don’t seem so.” Hanayo replied, respectfully ignoring Maki’s attempt to whip her tears. Even though the girl had a set of tissues with her, she did not pull out a box and offer it, signalizing discretion.

Absent-minded Maki touched her cheeks to check whether she missed to dry off some tears, but just her reaction contradicted her previous statement. “Do you wanna talk about it… In private maybe?” Hanayo added after a brief moment while assuring, that just Maki did hear her. The red-haired girl smiled. Her friend really knew her, always worrying about her. She should buy her some cake later. _Or rice?_

“Thanks Hanayo. Really. I mean it.” Maki responded putting up her most genuine fake smile. At least not as fake as a specific _fake smile_ by the worlds most famous idol, she thought. But she doesn’t want to be reminded of her, _for now. _“I just would like to be alone with my thoughts for now.” The smile on her classmate dropped a bit as Maki answered, but she caught herself fast. With a quick nod she removed herself from the conversation and caught up with the remaining members, Umi and Kotori, even going as far as distracting them and leading them outside the club room to build a small path for Maki to escape without another confrontation.

With a bright, yet frustrated smile Maki passed the three with safe distance between and left the club room. Since the remaining members of µ had split for today anyway and it is highly unlikely, they will work out later anyway, she might as well go to the music room and play the piano for a bit. Entertained by the thought of being alone with the music – like she did every day before joining the group – lifted her sadness just a bit. She will have enough time to think about her feelings later. As her parents always preached, it’s better to come back to something after some time, besides medicine. They surely loved to recommend her literature revolving around the topic. She felt, like she could compete with first semester medicine students by now due to her parents – mainly her father’s – ambition to make her learn the craft as soon as possible.

With a few swift moves, she unlocked the music room thanks to the spare key she was given by one of the teachers in secret. She sat down on the piano in the middle of the small stage and began playing, humming at some point. _Nothing beats these moments, _Maki thought. Soon she forgot everything around herself, including time, just concentrating on her passion.

“I don’t want to talk about it!”, Nico pounded. She sat in a small cafe with the other third year members of µ as they basically escorted her to the small family business. Eli’s favorite one, she learned on the way as it was close to the subway she was forced to take every school day, but yet outside of reach of the noisy train traffic. The cafe was doing great, yet was never overfilled with customers as it was sort of tricky to find the back alley leading to the entry. The other two girls threw a brief glance at each other, trying to endure the almost childish tantrum of probably the only third year in Japan passing as a middle school freshman. It wasn’t helping her to clear the common confusion as she was often not just looking but also acting the part sometimes.

“Nicochi, how about we order some cake and we talk a bit. About anything you want. I pay.”

The vice-president offered finally her most genuine smile, shifting Nico in alarm mode, yet made her calm down to the joy of all parties involved in current scenery, including the couple which had made the mistake to sit at a close table. While the woman was smiling at the three, the man was frowning as he slides back the small jewelry box to his inner jacket pocket as it was resting on his legs before.

“I wont tell you, if this is what you want. But I’ll take a piece of this chocolate cake.”, Nico declared while crossing her arms and throwing her head to the side a bit too fast, resulting in a brief instance of neck pain.

“Sure.” the blonde added to the conversation, her companion too busy being amused about the play in front of her, currently displaying an embarrassed Nico trying to hide her pain, humming as her head still remained frozen in it’s shifted position.

Nozomi’s lips curled up even further, thus almost intimidating the shorter girl. Within a few short moments they ordered a small set of pieces with Nico trying to opt for the most expensive, single piece she could find. In the end she was forced to surrender as she couldn’t pick the priciest slice of cake over a pink colored chocolate cake. While Nico trailed the waitresses swift movements to the sticker decorated cake window, Eli had decided to go for the restroom, leaving the other two alone.

After a short period of silence the fortune teller tried to start a conversation as it was clear to her, Nico wasn’t coming out of her defensive position on her own. “So. How are your siblings?”

Nico exhaled briefly. _Technically _Nozomi kept her promise of respecting Nico’s wish of not talking about today’s occurrences, but there might be a trap for poor Nico at some point! Still fixated on the preparation of her order, she answered “Great. They behave well. Mom and Nico don’t need to worry about them all the time.” With a bit of willpower she decided to turn around to fully look at her companion, struggling to find a point to look at, since she felt uncomfortable with keeping eye contact. Resting her vision a bit further downwards made it not less awkward, thus Nico decided to develop a sudden interest in the single flower sitting in the middle of their table, occasionally throwing a glance at the purple-haired girl.

“That’s great, Nico.”, she said light-hearted.

“Why is it, that you can’t behave yourself in the same way?” she played down with a cutesy giggle.

“It’s not my fault, that...” the temperamental girl basically shouted, almost scarring the approaching waitress to the point of dropping the plate with their cake. Quickly she apologized and returned to the conversation after acknowledging the gaze of the waitress and a few other customers on her, especially a nearby sitting male customer gave her a nasty glare.

“I… I didn’t want to... Why are you always provoking me? I can handle this on my own!” On her second attempt she managed to stay quite, if not a bit too quite, Nozomi just smiling at her as she did so.

Shortly after, the student council president returned to the new developed conversation. Without mentioning the few customers still glazing in their general direction, she sat down and began to work on her cake. Nico’s gaze traveled between the two, after all deciding to concentrate on her cake as well. As silent as possible, Nozomi kicked Nico under the table to regain her attention. In a similar fashion she whispered in Nico’s direction.

“Just try to be honest with yourself. Ok?”

“And don’t forget to apologize to Maki.” she added, this time a bit louder, signalizing the small girl to follow the command if she wasn’t up for one of her _least_ favorite punishments. Eli looked up, stiffening her gaze at Nico. Either the blond was acting to not notice the subtle threat against Nico or she was genuinely unaware of Nozomi’s little game as she just kept starring at Nico, expecting an answer.

“Fine. Fine!” Nico tried to drop as casually as possible while managing to balance a big piece of cake on her fork, also trying to ignore Eli’s unbreakable gaze. Nico assumed, Eli was trying to find the best opening sentence for a rant about group morale and the importance of it in µ. Presumably, she hasn’t figured out Nico’s situation as well as the other girl did.

For the remaining time of their visit at the Cafe, they just talked about the general plan for µ and shared small gossip about their classes. But at some point they needed to mention Nico’s ability to always smooth out the lowest possible accepted score on all her math exams. Even topics like this were welcome by the twin-tailed girl at the moment in comparison to a rather in detail discussion on her previous outburst. Thankfully, the two were rather forgiving this time. She almost expected her usual punishment routine, mostly compounding of an hour long scolding session by the blonde russian dancer followed by Nozomi’s favorite… Nico got shivers down her spine, just remembering these moments, humiliating moments. To her distress, the purple haired girl picked up on her movement and gave her a short smirk before going back to normal. _Safe! __For now at least. _But as soon as Nico is a famous idol, she might need to hire a bodyguard for the sake of her innocence. _On the other side, they grow this way, right?_


	2. Brahms Lullaby

After just around two hours, the three girls left the petite cafe, deciding to split up at the train station since Nico had just realized that she forgot some of her belongings at school, like her bag. She wasn’t at fault though as she got kinda dragged away from school by her classmates. Meanwhile, the other two girls were heading somewhere else. Actually, they should go to different directions each, but oddly the two went for the same train. For a moment, Nico considered following them, having something in hand against Nozomi for future confrontations was never a bad option. However, Nico decided that there probably wasn’t enough time for going back to school afterwards as the school gates should be closed in around ninety minutes. So, in a bit of a hurry, the raven-haired girl decided to activate bunny mode once again, reaching for school. _At least this way she catches up to today’s lost training session __in some sense._

As Nico reached the gates of Otonokizaka High, barely thirty minutes have passed. However, due to a halfway progressed autumn, the sun was already on its inevitable way of fusing with the horizon, clearing the stage for the stars to arise. She really could have just walked, since it only took her about twenty minutes to reach for her classroom, take her bag and head back home. Just… standing in her classroom, she suddenly felt the stress of the day collapsing onto her, all the thinks she was bottling up, finally leaving her dizzy. As she regained control over her senses, she decided to sit down in an arbitrary chair in her classroom and stared out of the window, where a bunch of colorful leaves painted the heaven, dancing in the wind, creating a colorful spectacle, reflecting parts of the warm rays of light around. Nico observed the moment as the warmth of the sun reached her body, making her shiver for a moment from the previous lack of warmth. It was a healthy mix of yellowish and reddish leaves whirling around, trying to fight for Nico’s focus just to disappear behind a bunch of other competitors blocking the view. Somehow she could not resist to think about Maki’s red hair falling down her shoulders as she observed an especially red leaf. Strangely, she wondered about the taste of tomato juice and somehow felt the urge to try it at some point, even though she probably would detest it.

Anyway, Nico decided to leave the classroom after a couple of minutes of tanking sunlight. Strangely, instead of going straight for the exit, she was drawn towards the music room, being just two rooms away from her classroom. Just as she reached the wooden doors, she was realizing how she was absent-minded wandering towards the room, suddenly reminding her of the countless hours listening to Maki’s playing. She remembers the first time she was listening to her shortly after entering the third year. One day she stopped instead of heading for lunch as she was captivated by the pure sound of the piano. It was making her curious as nobody every used the music room at lunch break ever before. Pressing her face to the window, she discovered the girl with red silky hair playing the big piano sitting in the center of the room, marking the first of many days she was gazing at her for the entire lunch break. Nico wasn’t a stalker, but she couldn’t enter as she didn’t want to disturb the younger girl. Sometimes she is really glad about listening to Maki’s fingers dancing over the piano, at other times she even wanted to try it herself, seeing how much fun it was for the red-haired girl. Even the beautiful sound of the keys carried to her ear inspired her as she never experienced music this defined. On further occasions, she is filled with sadness or even something resembling hate, realizing that playing music and composing is probably just one of Maki’s hobbies she will drop as soon as she starts going to college in order to study medicine. She didn’t make a secret out of it. At least with Nico as she considers herself one of the people Maki would rather tell her secrets towards.

Suddenly, she stood in front of the room. The closed curtains blocked the weak sunlight from entering the room, making Nico stare through the small window into the dark room, preventing her from being able to see the piano standing almost right in front of her. She really should leave the school by now, but she can’t detach herself from this mysterious power forcing her to stay. She knows, the music room is locked all the time to prevent anyone to steal the pricy instruments – _who would try to steal a piano?_ – but she still opted for opening the door… _which worked? _With a few steps forward, she was standing in the music room, barely illuminated by the lights coming from the floor.

She smirked at the though of a certain first year forgetting to lock the door after finishing, which was strange itself, since she mostly locked the door after going in as other students started walking in on her, distracting her, talking superficial nonsense and making it impossible for the pianist to continue her hobby. So Nico did, what she was curios about all along, reaching for the piano with the intention of playing a few keys in an attempt to figure one of her questions. Why did Maki choose to play the piano over everything else she could do. Also, why would she sacrifice it later on for a boring carrier path laid out by her parents.

Nico _really_ intended to play a bit, but the piano was still occupied by a certain someone. Nico was staring down on a sleeping redhead resting her head on the cover of the school piano. Nico couldn’t but start giggling at the odd chain of events leading to this exact moment. She would decline to accept this to be something besides the work of an omnipotent entity. Somewhat frozen in her momentum, she scanned her close environment in order to remove the possibility of making an unexpected sound. Shortly after the third year relaxed her heartbeat calmed down from the surprising encounter. For a moment, she just stared at the defenseless young girl, arms crossed on the piano, head softly tilted in a comfy position above them. Nico would struggle to find relaxation in this setup, she pictured.

A heavy, crimson curtain slowly lifted, revealing a majestic concert hall, dozens of rows filled with silent spectators. The room was divided by an expensive carpet, turning into two opposing strings, leading to weakly curved staircases positioned symmetrically to each other, each heading to the second floor filled with another set of rows. While the back of the hall was fusing with the shadows, the front was flooded in bright light, focused on a single spot in the front of the stage, enlightening an expensive grandé. Next to it, a small bench painted in the same pitch black tone as the instrument next to it. The pattern of the newly made parquet was stopped frequently by small circles of glass emitting a bunch of light, a few of them not working as intended. The collective clapping of the audience was Makis signal as she began to reveal herself from the shadows of the curtain, moving towards the assigned place next to the massive, wooden instrument. As she emerged from the shadows, her silky hair glanced in the intense light, her white dress moved around her as she moved towards her destination and the clip, bundling a bunch of her hair reflected a portion of light in various directions. She faced the audience and bowed down, increasing the volume of the continuing clapping, then finally she sat down on the bench. After a few seconds, the room turned silent as even the static whispering was consumed by an equally loud tension filling the concert hall, soon being replaced by a vivid melody as her fingers began to fly over the keys.

Maki slowly closed her eyelids, removing all possibilities of diverting her attention to something besides the melody in her head getting translated by the piano to waves of sound. She played and played and at some point she forgot the moment she had began the piece. In her memory, she alternated between different melodies, always wondering how long this particular piece was already echoing inside her skull. At some point, she wasn’t focusing anymore and felt like being captured in complete silence as she felt a soft touch going through her hair. The sound of a familiar voice reached to her ear, her wondering how long it already swirled around hear head, fusing with the other sounds created a composition of silence. Suddenly she realized, she wasn’t accompanied by a page turner, not even the crowd she frequently got a cough from was present anymore. Further she realized that she wasn’t moving her hands anymore or even resting on the piano bench she sat down to begin with. As she frees herself from the illusion of the concert, the initially weak, dumped voice she occasionally noticed became clear, sharp and less undefined.

“Ah.. E..”

“Maki, hey.”

With an exploding realization, Maki removed herself from the place, turning her environment from a shimmering collection of different colors and sounds to an empty room filled with nothing but darkness. Again, she heard the same voice, reaching her ear, however not getting louder, just becoming more defined to her. Anyway, it was close, very close.

“Wake up, sleepyhead. The concert is over.” the soft voice carried through by the wind crawled into her ear, climbed into her brain, letting her internally shiver from the touch of warm air, which was followed by yet another soft touch; this time on her shoulder – physically. The abstain of warmth and coldness on her numb body made the urge to shiver apparent in her muscles as the warmth of the hand resting on her shoulder spread explosively through her body, activating signals throughout it. However, her electric movement, followed by a pleased grumble was noticed by the other person, resulting in a almost insignificant change of temperature in the familiar hand hovering on her shoulder.

Maki opened her eyes, at first revealing nothing but pure darkness, which felt even darker than having her eyes closed. It took a few moments, but then she could make out contours, noticing the weak light emitted from outside the room, still making her hands barely visible to her. She raised her head in response to another soft call of her name. After ringing with herself for a reason to move, she lifts her back to sit in an almost straight position. She grumbled as she felt an unpleasant feeling in her shoulder resulting from the impractical position she was resting in.

“How was it?”

“Nico?” she whispered, slowly regaining the control over her body, repeating herself after she found her voice.

“No. It’s Santa. You spent all this time ‘till Christmas here. Your parents were worried, so they had to sent me.” Nico, answered in an attempt to mimic the voice she pictured Maki would use for Santa in her head – unnatural inefficient to Maki’s surprise.

“Dummy, you killed him a few months ago, remember?”

“Right.” Nico answered, trying to feel guilty about stealing Maki her innocence. _Santa innocence!_

By now, Maki was fully awake, scanning her environment, which became more structured as her eyes accustomed to the semi-darkness.

“The music room?” Maki recollected recent memories of her playing. The situation appeared so unreal, since recently she wasn’t visiting the schools music room at all, making it a memory which should rather be part of a different time. Then she remembered today’s _short_ club activities due to her rather one-sided conflict with the same 3rd year she is accompanied by at the moment, making her frown internally.

“Why are you here?” Maki dropped her head in her arms, resting on the cover for the piano keys. All the thoughts she had on Nico roamed around her again, breaking the relaxation she just accomplished by peacefully shutting herself off.

Surprisingly, the hand was still hovering on her shoulder, still transmitting this soft feeling. “Rescuing you from oversleeping tomorrows school at school. Someone clearly needs to be there to watch out for you” she declared proudly after a short moment of indecisiveness, signalized by her shaking body. “Which is a result of your actions? So you rescue me from something you are responsible for? Why shouldn’t I assume, that you just want to relief yourself from your guilt? Do you even care about me in the same way I do about you?” Maki really wanted to shout at the twin-tailed girl, relieving herself from all the tension, crawling around inside her and intensifying over the past few months, yet she felt a big force pressing her lips together. Maki wished, she could just blare out her thoughts, but she never felt the courage for doing it as direct as the others around her. Instead, after a few seconds she settled for asking Nico how she even did knew that she was here.

_Luck, I guess?_ wasn’t really the answer she was secretly hoping for. But to be fair, this was the only answer, that wouldn’t make things awkward at the given moment. Maki decided to drop all her complex thoughts and ideas to come up with potential counters for potential answers and instead stood up and smiled in Nico’s general direction. “Wanna go home?” she said, deciding to struggle with confronting Nico about all their problems at some other time – in private.

“Actually, I wanted to stay over at school. We could watch the stars since you clearly like them, right?”

“Fine, then I see you tomorrow. Have fun here.” Maki answered as she quickly took her bag, heading for the exit, not slowing down in the slightest.

“Wait, I was joking.” she heard echoing through the halls from the music room, followed by a pair of shoes closing in on her.

Nico was basically sprinting through the hall, knowing that Maki wouldn’t actually wait for her if she’d stayed behind for too long. Clearly, she was joking about staying over night at school, but if Maki would have agreed for some reason – even if the red haired girl wouldn’t mean it – Nico would have actually done it. Nico grabbed the wall as she intended to lose as little speed as possible drifting around the corner as she surprisingly stopped, not being able to see Maki anywhere. _She just disappeared_, Nico thought, still heading towards the exit.

At the building’s entry she was really getting nervous, since she couldn’t find any sign of red hair. Again, she stared at the sky. The sun was almost done pulling the blanket of an horizon over herself, sending of an last big wave of reddish beams, slowly getting less intense, revealing the first shiny travelers competing for a spot on the darkening night sky. Nico was still wondering, when she lost the apparently more athletic first year. Did Maki start running as soon as she turned the first corner? She felt guilt crawling up her body, but at the same time… sadness, disappointment; a bunch of mixed feelings resulted in a bittersweet mood, oddly satisfying her in her urge for self-punishment.

Just as she intended to head of, a hand grabbed her _surprisingly strong _and pulled her around, letting her vision change from a bunch of red beams breaking through the skyline to… _a bunch of red beams __breaking through her mood? _With a satisfied smirk, that should tell _That’s what you get for being unserious _Maki stood in front of her, wanting to initialize with “What are you looking for?”, but she stopped mid-sentence as she spotted a single tear rolling down Nico’s cheek. Maki’s smirk turned into a concerned look.

“I...” the first year girl stuttered as she realized, she couldn’t finish the sentence.

Nico quickly rubbed her cheek with the back of her hand and smiled towards Maki.

“There you are. And Nico was already wondering, when you evolved into a super sprinter?!” Nico said, quickly wiping her cheek with the back of her hand. As the redhead didn’t respond after a brief moment, still being fixated on Nico’s face with an unpleasant expression painted on her face, the raven-haired girl answered “Nico’s eyes just went watery because she stared towards the sun for too long. I’m fine, so lift your head, okay?”, she went into her signal position and chanted _Nico-Nico-Nii!! _as enthusiastic as possible “See?”.

“Nico.” Maki finally said, letting the idol uncomfortably wait in her pose for an eternity – at least she felt like sticking to it this long. Her voice was serious, her gaze radiated authority.

“Yes?” Nico quickly answered as if she was about to get lectured by her mother.

Maki sighted, relaxing her face muscles a bit. “You know, that you are a terrible liar, do you?”

“What gave me away? The moment you found out, that I had no big mansion?” Maki resisted to roll her eyes, which would be a natural reaction to Nico’s statement, but not useful at the current moment.

“Nico… Just… be serious for moment. Can you stop hiding behind your idol persona, just for once?”

“Look, I’m okay. I just wasn’t in the best mood today to begin with. I’m really sorry for before. And…” Nico stopped, looking down on her – rather Maki’s – feets as she intended to build up some courage, then looking up again to face Maki upfront “And recently in general. I don’t intend on...”. Nico stopped as she was paralyzed by Maki throwing herself around the 3rd year, embracing her in a warm hug. “I know. I know, that this is just your way of showing affection.” She took a brief pause to settle the mood before continuing, “Even if it is a stupid one… Please work on this part.”

Nico was still somewhat paralyzed, because the warm hug was the least she would have expected at all times, but she caught herself a bit as she reciprocated the hug just a tiny bit, because she was scared of never letting go. For the same reason, she didn’t lean in too much, making it somewhat exhausting for her to stay in this position, however she wouldn’t trade this moment for anything.

“I’ll do my best, I promise.” she could bring out at the right moment, breaking the silence before the situation could turn in an awkward direction, since she hasn’t figured out yet when and how to break the hug. So, she just went with delaying the moment so that Maki could decide it.

And just at the right moment, Maki softened the embrace, stood back and smiled, followed by an approving hum.

Without many words, they began heading home. Just from time to time, they broke the silence for a quick chat, revolving mostly around some tasks they still have to do before performing the next time with µ’s or simple observations like the intensity of some star constellations – mostly initialized by Maki, since Nico hasn’t found interest in the structures painted by connecting the small lights projected on the nightsky. Something she might change at some point in an attempt to impress Maki.

Soon the two girls took the train, as they share parts of their way to school. Okay, Nico could just take a route way more efficient than the current, but she decided to take the route maximizing her time with the redhead instead. Generally, the small girl was as happy as she could be at the moment. Hence, she wasn’t feeling this relieved in her entire high school time until just this current moment. _Probably. _Especially being in Maki’s presence was relaxing her from all the exhaustion she had build up from sprinting around between keeping up with school, singing, dancing, keeping up with idols, being the president of a club and basically doing almost all the chores for her family of five. The last wasn’t too bad, since she enjoyed assisting her mother and if she’d need to be honest, she was grateful for all these small skills she developed.

“I know, you really enjoy tomatoes for some strange reason, but you shouldn’t include them in every dish, Maki.” Nico giggled as she pictured Maki’s parents telling their chiefs – _they actually have a chief preparing all their dishes! – _to included tomatoes in some way each time for dinner.

“But they are delicious! Why shouldn’t I eat something, when I enjoy it?” Maki declared, overly acting offended by crossing her arms and looking away, just to break the pose again and sticking out her tongue. The girl was clearly playing down her statement, but Nico couldn’t but assume, that Maki actually meant it and was – as always – oblivious towards all reasoning. Nico couldn’t help but picture Maki in a lab coat struggling to find out why a patience got sick after eating nothing but cake for the last three months. As Nico started to enjoy herself over the sorta likely event Maki shot a death glare in her direction.

“I’m glad, you have someone getting paid just to make sure, that you are eating right.” Nico countered, also crossing her arms to mimic the other girls expression.

“I’d be good at it myself, just so you know!” Maki almost shouted, being so loud, that the young man sitting two blocks further removed his headphones and glanced in their general direction, checking worried whether something happened just to put his attention back to the music coming from his phone. Besides him and the two girls the wagon was empty. Frequently, the seats were touched by a dim light as the train traveled by a lamp post, which vanished in the distance and reappeared few seconds later at the front of the wagon. In a similar tact, the compartment was filled with a dull drum-like sound created by the wheels.

“Besides, you were the first to lie about being able to cook.”

“Better to act like not being able to do it then the other way around.”

“I’m not acting. I just… have no experience so far, okay? Also, your cooking was really good. There is no way, that you aren’t practicing every day.” Nico felt her face getting hot, staring in Maki’s amethyst-colored eyes glaring back at her as she said these words. She knew, that the red-haired girl appreciated her cooking back at their trip, but getting praised – especially by Maki – was something else entirely, since she almost never acknowledged Nico’s efforts. Taken aback by the compliment, Nico just stared in the void, being completely oblivious to everything around her, forgetting, that it was her turn to say something sassy. She snapped back into reality as she sensed the touch of Maki on her shoulder, giving her a concerned look. Without much delay, Nico caught herself, stroke a fancy pose and answered.

“I’m sure, the great Nico-sensei can teach Maki-Maki Ma a few things about cooking. My mother isn’t home this weekend, so I need someone to help me preparing dinner for the kids. The assistance of a loyal lackey may be a welcome one.” She did it. She actually turned insane, if one would go by Maki’s expression. No blush, no head tilt, not even rolling eyes mode. The redhead was just staring in disbelief towards the older, yet smaller girl.

“Maki-Maki … Ma?” she finally answered after playing out the situation of just leaving the train at the current hold and waiting for the next on. Then she would talk to her parents in order to change school. UTX would be too close, but she could just leave the prefecture and settle for Osaka. However, she settled for enduring it once again and maybe – _maybe – _do this next time. Or the one after next.

“That’s where you are stuck? Do you like it? This will be your new nickname. I came up with it myself.”

“There was clearly a lot of brain power involved in developing it.” Maki murmured. “And please don’t use it.” She should just let it stay and talk about something else. Anything. Nico wasn’t the most unpredictable, so she knew, that she just made herself a new nickname. And it would stick for as long as they know each other. Probably even longer, as she pictures a famous Idol talking about herself in an interview, telling the story of one of her schoolmates she baptized with this monstrous invention of a name. Maki was surprised at herself, as she admitted to herself that she expects Nico to be a popular idol at some point.

“So, you come to my place on Saturday?” Nico smile was so bright, she may actually be able to power an entire city. Or get a locked jaw at some point. One of both at least, Maki thought.

“Fine, you clearly need my help.” she pouted. To be honest, Maki was really curious about making food herself, since she doesn’t have this opportunity herself at home. Also, she can’t recall to ever be at Nico’s place before, so she was curious about what the third year was calling her home. She pictured an idolized bedroom and a lot of posters and frowned at the thought of it being reality, considering to back up instead.

“Alright, then this is settled. I send you the address later.” Nico chirped as she stood up, walked two steps, spun around blowing a kiss in Maki’s direction just to spin again, heading for the exit of the train, since she just happens to need to go of at this station. Today, Maki had a lot of moments where she was just too overwhelmed to react at all. While she felt a burn on her cheeks from her probably turning red, she was just sitting their, not even able to wink or bid farewell to her comically marching girl slowly turning out of side. Maki followed her small figure until she disappeared behind a wall, just to emerge from it again as the train began to accelerate, revealing the raven-haired girl winking towards Maki. This time she could smile and wink back.

Maki sank in her seat, as she felt tension leave her body. Somehow, she went from being in a conflict with Nico to meeting up and cooking together in the span of a single day. Also, she hadn’t confronted the other girl on her previous behavior. Maki had almost forgot all of this by now and really wasn’t thinking about it when she was with Nico until just a few seconds ago. She felt carefree, _happy._ While she still does, the previous pain was climbing up again, making her wonder, whether it was a bad decision to go to Nico’s this weekend. On the other side, she pictured herself calmly talking to her. Hopefully, Nico doesn’t behave as _fake_ in her own home. Isolated from public, in the circle of her family she may actually drop all this nuisance of a mask, acting more natural, like the girl Maki saw behind the mask. The girl, she was interested in spending time together and developing a good friendship with.

Maki loosened herself from her daydream as she felt traveling closer to the station, she needs to stop at. She grabbed her bag and wanted to head of...

“Nico, you forgot your bag.” Maki whispered to herself, forming a genuine smile.


	3. Nishikino Daycare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me so far ;)
> 
> It seems christmas is closing in ;)

The following days went by without any bigger arguments from the infamous duo.

Nico appeared at the daily club meeting without much of an uproar. Appearing with Maki in tow surprised at least some of the other members, others were not reacting at all as they were already used to the predictable ups and downs of the two. So far, Maki and Nico nearly almost came to the gatherings together as they did spend time together in the break before, but the other members pictured them to have a bit of a distance after the last incident. Eli was considering to say a few words along the line of being glad, that they talked it out, but the blond girl decided to ignore it to stop further confrontations. She gave Nozomi a stern look as she felt that the purple-haired girl couldn’t wait to say something concerning the two arriving students. To her relief, Nozomi settled with smiling back at Eli. Kotori was explaining Honoka something about the costumes she was currently working on and why she wasn’t including a bread-themed collection in her list of projects, earning herself a sulking leader sticking close to her. Right besides them was Umi playing around with a block filled with words over words, secretly being distracted by the conversation between Kotori and Honoka. Hanayo was talking to Rin and was telling her about an Idol group she recently discovered, where one girl strangely resembled Rin. As soon as Maki entered Rin’s field of view, Rin energetically sprang towards her, even though they saw each other in class the entire day. The hectic movement of an orange-haired girl sprinting around two persons, a bunch of chairs and a box of idol merchandise – clearly being property of a certain super idol – towards the redhead – which stumbled backwards, halfway hiding behind Nico in an attempt to use her as a shield – ripped everyone from their current activities and signalized the beginning of their training session.

Everything was going well.

Maki checked her phone’s time as she stood on the doorstep towards Nico’s home. The forecast made her believe, that one layer of clothes should have been enough on this hot Saturday, but the cloudy sky and freezing cold – even for an October – air made her regret her choice. Maki’s gaze wandered around between the address and the text Nico send her multiple times, each time comparing them with more increasing preciseness until she finally decided to hover her finger above the bell just to stick it back again in case she misread anything again.

“Still struggling with the decision, Nishikino-san?”.

The redhead, caught in her own mind until milliseconds ago, jumped at the unexpected high-pitched sound, leading to her finger pressing against the button she was considering to press. Maki looked to her right to confirm the origin of the voice. Nico. Armed with just a small straw hat and a white dress, the small girl stood in front of her with the arguable brightest grin Maki has witnessed so far. Maki got the odd feeling recently, that that Nico manages to strengthen her grin every time she sees her. She seriously worries for Nico’s jaw to lock in this position at some occasion. On the other side, this would make for an amusing situation.

“What are you doing here?” Maki stumbled as she slowly finds back her composure.

Nico looked up, acting as if she was thinking really hard on the question. “Living. Mostly.” she answered, looking almost philosophical. Briefly after, she added “I was shopping for groceries” as she held up the bag with ingredients. Nico grabbed into the plastic bag to reveal a single tomato and teasingly threw it towards Maki as she continues to walk towards the door, which just happened to be opened in the same moment by one of her younger siblings.

“I’m back.” she chirped as Cocoa was welcoming her, a bit confused by the other person standing in front of the door juggling a tomato between her hands.

“A circus performer?” she asked her older sister, fixated on Maki.

“Seems like it. But you know we don’t open the door for strangers. Especially not, if the want to sell stuff, right?” Maki just succeeded to catch the tomato as her attention went towards the two girls looking at her. She turned red as she combined the chatter of the other two, realizing that the younger girl was believing her to be a saleswoman of some sort.

“I… I’m not. Nico!” she announced harsh, giving the girl a stern look.

“Come in.” she said, making a inviting gesture as she started giggling about Maki’s flustered reaction. She was happy. And as long as this is the case, Maki doesn’t mind.

Besides feeling a bit shy being in the Yazawa household, meeting Nico’s siblings for the first time; they are somewhat of a mini version of her, even Cotaro; Maki was enjoying herself. She clearly won the admiration of the youngest as she was able to win most of the small quarrels with Nico. She should start making an internal score board in her head, but Maki was already aware, that she wouldn’t really count Nico’s wins, rendering the idea useless. Instead of admitting defeat in presence of her siblings, Nico grounded Maki to entertain her siblings while Nico was sorting in the ingredients, but Maki wasn’t complaining. At some point, she spotted a small toy piano or at least something resembling one. On a conquest of playing every piano in plain sight, she tried to perform something to impress them, admittedly harder then expected as it got only two octaves worth of keys, added to the fact that the keys were extremely small, making it hard for her muscle memory to adapt to the new conditions. Further, the sound was all weird, sorta plastic with a small mix of a digital component to it. At some point even Nico stopped her doing as she looked at Maki, mesmerized at what sounds she was able to pull out of the small toy Cotaro received for Christmas.

In frustration Maki pressed a bunch of keys, echoing a non-harmonic sound through the small apartment.

“What’s wrong?” the oldest Nico clone wondered.

“I was trying to play Liszt’s La Campanella, but it’s really difficult with this amount of keys.” Maki sobbed frustrated, while the siblings gathered around her were still mesmerized by the music as they never experienced something similar. Nico made her way from the kitchen counter towards the redhead sitting at the small Kotatsu together with the others.

“Alright.” Nico declared as she rested her hand on Maki’s shoulder, “The piano prodigy had her time to be a show-off, but now she wants to helps out the great super idol Nico-Nii.” Maki rolled her eyes as she sensed Nico pressing forward her chest in an attempt to look lofty. She was about to hiss something towards Nico as she was surprised by an perfectly studied in _Nico-Nico-Nii_ from the four Nicos, feeling an uprising urge of leaving.

Like a bunch of trained dogs, Nico’s siblings stood up and went towards their room, leaving just Maki sitting with her back towards Nico.

“Are you prepared to impress me, Nishikino-sama?”

Maki growled at the way Nico pronounced her name and the way she stretched the suffix. Or even the sly face, she was _assumably _putting up right now. The same sly face she was sticking to, whenever she was testing Maki’s patience.

“Sure, Miss Yazawa.” Maki barked back as she proudly stood up and headed for the kitchen isle.

In the end, Maki managed to paint half of the floor with tomato juice as she was trying to cut them with a cleaver, being glad about Nico urging her to wear an apron as she was looking like a post-shift butcher. Maki sugared a part of the the dish on Nico’s command to add a dash of salt to the pot. And most important, Maki was able to almost murder her co-chef as she was trying to pull out a knife out of a cucumber, missing Nico by just a hair. Maybe it was a long hair, but too short for Nico’s taste.

Nico was making a thinking pose, while she was stirring the food. “I wonder whether you could burn down a kitchen while making a salad. Like, Maki. I hadn’t high hopes, but this is amazing.” In the same moment, the redhead was sitting by the Kotatsu as she wasn’t allowed in the kitchen isle after the stabbing attempt. “I never had the chance to learn this.” she murmured, too embarrassed to speak up, still guilty from the most recent accident.

“But that’s why you came here tonight, right? To learn from the great Nico-Nii.” the raven-haired girl chirped, throwing her hands over her head for her pose, followed by a bunch of humming sounds, resembling somewhat a µ’s song if it wouldn’t be for the melody. “Maybe.” Maki almost whispered after a short moment of silence, turning as red as she felt after sitting by the heated Kotatsu for what seems like an eternity.

“But...” Nico came around the counter and placed herself next to Maki, “it was… _is _a lot of fun with you around.” Nico smiled. Not the idol Nico style of smile, her _actual _smile. The one, Maki appreciated more than anything about the small girl. She couldn’t but reciprocate the smile. And both just stared at each other, radiating a wave of joy and happiness. Honestly, Maki couldn’t think about anything to say, anyway to react.

She was frozen in the moment, locked in the same position as the other girl, if it wasn’t for the rattling sound of the small kitchen timer Nico set at some point, signalizing her to look for the pot. As the girl stood up to look at the food, Maki was still fixated on her, hastily focusing on something else as the other girl glanced into Maki’s direction.

“Could you help by decorating the table for now? The dish is almost ready.”

“Are you sure? I might burn the whole place in an attempt to put a plate on the Kotatsu.” Maki jokingly answered while standing up to help at least a bit.

“I almost forgot. I’m sorry, Maki. Anyway, a fire extinguisher is outside the apartment on the right side. It’s not food, so you might know what to do.” she answered back as both began giggling.

The dinner was extra vivid this evening in Nico’s opinion as her siblings were talking instead of eating most of the time thanks to the new company. With talking she meant bombarding her guest with questions. To her surprise, Maki was surprisingly bad at handling the overwhelming demands of Nico’s siblings, so Maki began talking about stuff she wouldn’t even normally pour out to Nico. In some sense, this was satisfying for Nico as she learned about a few old stories of Maki. So far her favorite was as Maki talked about a _very _young age at which she found out that dishes do not grow the way they are presented for dinner, which in Nico’s opinion is something she could clearly picture small Maki to think. Also Nico would deliberately tease her junior at some point with it. Unfortunately, Nico was smirking quite elaborately, thus Maki noticed soon. Afterwards, she wasn’t as willing as before to answer all the small questions by Nico’s little spy units.

As it was getting late, Nico began collecting the dishes. On command her siblings began to get ready for bed as they soon disappeared yet again in a room on the back of the apartment. Meanwhile, Nico was putting some foil around a plate to put it into the fridge for her mother to eat later when she comes home. Then she proceeded to clean out the pan. Meanwhile Maki was still sitting at the Kotatsu processing the previous thirty minutes.

“Don’t worry, they are just thrilled to meet someone new. Normally, they are not that energetic.” Maki just hummed in response.

Nico was finishing up cleaning the kitchen, so she also opted for sitting at the kotatsu.

“Today was fun, I must say.”

“Yeah, thanks for having me over.” Maki responded, mumbling she added “I might even enjoy this more then at home.” Not completely understanding what the young girl just said – still getting the overall message – Nico hummed in enjoyment.

“We can repeat this as often as you want. With some practice you can do it too.” Even though Nico meant her words with good intentions, she felt a bit provoking, so she added “My mother also needed to keep an eye out for me at first.” Maki just smiled, enjoying the though of spending more time with Nico in this setup as she prefers this Nico over all other versions of her.

After a brief period of silence the red-haired girl looked at the small kitchen clock hanging on the right of all the cupboards and considers the time she needs to go home.

“I think I should head out soon or I’ll get blamed by my parents.” A bit disappointed by the end of their time, Nico answered exhaling “Fine, I guess it’s time. I walk you to the station?”

“You don’t need to, but I don’t mind.”

“Sure, lemme just grab my coat.” she said, swiftly reaching for the black wool coat, almost kicking down the coat stand in the process. After checking carefully, that she had forgotten nothing at Nico’s place at least three times, Maki followed Nico towards the door.

“Are you sure, you forgot nothing? You may check an extra two to three times.” It was almost obligatory for Nico to tease Maki after the other girl went back multiple times to check her stuff.

“At least I’m not forgetting my bag in the train in order to make an elegant exit.”

“Did you really think it was elegant? Maki, that’s so romantic of you.”

“Bite me.”

“Kinky.” Maki rolled her eyes and proceeded to leave the apartment with a overly energetic Nico in tow.

They were walking by a small path just illuminated by the occasional lamp post. Some of them weren’t shining proper others not at all, so Maki needed to keep an eye out for the lines on the side to confirm, that she isn’t wandering of towards the bushes on the side. It was still October, but the nightly cold began to reach the red-head and she wished that she had put on something warmer before heading out. While she could still stand it, her companion was apparently at her limit as she noticed the shivering mess of her senior pressing herself against Maki’s side.

“You could just stay home since it’s way too cold for you. It is no problem, really.” Maki says while adjusting herself to a more comfortable position regarding the smaller girl getting uncomfortably close.

“I need to make sure, you come home save.” Nico answered, shivering. “Also... I wanted to tell you something important.” she continued hesitant after a short period. “Hm?” Maki responded curiously, yet considering Nico it might be trivial.

A decent amount of time passes without either of both saying a word, Maki clearly waiting for the other girl to say something. After a long time of collecting herself Nico started.

“You know, back then I was really mean towards you.” Nico says, still shivering, yet trying to compose herself. “Maki, I shouldn’t have said anything of that sort to you. I’m really sorry.” she stops briefly.

“Nico, we already...” Maki began, but was interrupted by the twin-tailed girl, still sticking to her “Maki, I know, it is kinda our thing to hiss at each other. Like, all the time. And really, it is hella fun with you, but... I overstepped my boundaries and did made an inexcusable mistake.” This time Maki didn’t stop Nico and waited for her to finish. Honestly, at first she didn’t knew what the smaller girl was talking about since clashing against each other was a somewhat daily ritual for both of them, but then she remembered. Nico apologized back than almost on the spot, so Maki didn’t think any of it afterwards but maybe Nico was still feeling guilty. “I’m _extremely _ thankful, that you forgave me, really. I just don’t think that I deserve this from you.” she proceeds.

“And...”

Maki was exhaling exhausted. “Are you finished, Nico?” she stopped Nico from further trailing into her speech, the shorter girl staring at her almost paralyzed. “I...” was the only answer Maki got, before continuing herself “Look, I get it. You made a mistake. Maybe a big one. Well, definitely a big one to be fair. And I admit, I was… I am still very hurt about this even though I know, that you were wrong. But, I also know how much time you spend extra to make sure I have the same pace in practice as the others. You always make sure, that I can enjoy myself in the group. And don’t think, that I never noticed you staring when I ended up in the music room at school. You were staying almost every day, didn’t you?” Maki properly turned towards Nico, looking her directly in the eyes “I would have ignored you, if you would have meant it. But even then I knew, that you do not believe yourself what you said. So, I figured that you were overwhelmed by something else and overreacted towards anyone at this point. It is rather fair to say, that the probability of overreacting towards me was the highest at this point given our… _thing?_” Maki wrapped her arms around the small shivering, almost crying ball of wool and Nico. “To make it clear enough. Nico, I forgive you and I want you to keep an eye out for me. Thanks for helping me so much.”

Okay, she did it. She actually made Nico cry. To be fair, Maki was surprised of herself communicating her thoughts so well. But maybe it has something to do with it being very important to herself. They stood there for about three minutes, Nico whimpering as she hugs her junior, kinda ruining Maki’s clothes with her tears. Internally, Maki guessed a good time to release herself from the hug and softly removed herself. Soon, Nico softened her grab until she released herself as well.

“Let’s go to the station.” Nico said in a cracked voice, unable to control her tears yet. Maki just smiled and they started moving again. Maki wasn’t considering talking about their past fight ever, but clearing out the negative thoughts about it was pretty satisfying. Her mother was right regarding taking some time to come back to older issues. Now she just needs to process the reason for her desire to excessively hug her senior.

Maki was sorta sad about leaving Nico in this kind of situation as she wanted to stay with her a bit more, thus she was positively surprised by the announcement at the station. _The station is out of order until Sunday, 3.30 am._ Great, she thought. Since it was already past 10, her parents wouldn’t mind her staying away instead of forcing them to pick her up this late.

“Well… ” Nico initialized after a brief time of adapting to the new situation. “You know… ” she stuttered again. “I could offer you to stay at my place since the train is out of order. You could take a taxi if you want… but this way you could tell me how much you appreciate my help all night… I mean all the time.” Nico was shifting nervously while talking, still embarrassed from her apology as it took her some courage to overcome her embarrassment in the first place.

“In this case, I’ll take a taxi.” Maki answered promptly, beginning to dial a number.

“I was joking. I just thought, it would be easier since we are meeting up with µ’s tomorrow for rehearsal. So it’s closer to the training stage anyway.” Briefly after, she added “It’s just for convenience, you know.” searching for an excuse to make her offer justifiable in the first place.

This time Maki agreed to Nico’s offer to Nico’s surprise as the small girl believed the redhead was already fixated on boarding a taxi. Instead, she just send a short message on her phone. Assumably it was a short notice to her mother or father. So, with just a minor delay they began to walk back the whole way to Yazawa’s _5-star_ residence. However, this time Maki was shivering while Nico was energetic as never before and didn’t show any sort of affection to the cold at all, rather unexpected since Maki knew there were only three things Nico detests: _exams, coldness and everything that is neither pink nor sugary._

When they came back, Nico’s mother was back home from her shift, warming up the plate Nico left for her. She was a bit surprised by the redhead in bundle of her oldest daughter, but welcomed her warmly after she was told the situation. After a quick and awkward introduction in which Maki was acting hilarously shy, the two girls disappeared in Nico’s room.

It was the first time in … _always_ that Nico had a sleepover at her place, so she hadn’t though about cleaning up her room to a presentable state, thus Maki was having the time of her life teasing the smaller girl about anything unusual. She also quickly realized, that unsurprisingly Maki hadn’t brought a pyjama. She would lend the _slightly _taller girl one of hers, but even Nico would understand that their height difference is somewhat critical for sharing clothes. Also picturing Maki in _Nico’s clothes _made her feel weird. Luckily, Maki didn’t make any fuss about it and decided to just stay in her clothes minus the pullover. Nico couldn’t offer a spare futon since she had none available. Clearly, this situation was unexpected. Maki didn’t really care and decided to just place herself in Nico’s bed. Maki decided that they can sleep in the same bed as there was enough space for both, especially since Nico was barely filling half of it according to the redhead. In response she made an effort to take up as much space as possible, which just resulted in Maki pressing her to the side to make room to lie down herself while making an annoyed sound.

After the lights were turned out and they distributed just the cover fairly – since there was a vast amount of pillows – both lied down. Maki was taking the side facing Nico’s night desk while Nico herself was trapped between the wall and Maki. Since the raven-haired girl has trouble sleeping while facing the wall, she decided to face towards Maki. Fortunately the other girl was facing away from Nico as the only thing worse then staring at a wall might be a staring contest in this situation. A few minutes passed, but Nico was still too energetic from before to calm down. She was embarrassed and shifting uncomfortable around as she imagined, what would have happened if she would had poured out too many of her emotions previously.

“Nico?” Maki grumbled sleepy.

“Yes?” she quickly answered. Nico is getting nervous, like really nervous. Nico is barely a few centimeters away from the redhead, which is still facing away, her heart pounding, her warm breath making it’s way to the other girl. Can Maki hear it? _I hope she can’t_, Nico hopes. Maki not responding doesn’t help to calm Nico down. _She is just so close._ Nico is getting even more nervous as she realizes, she can smell Maki’s scent. _Is this strawberry? __Why __in the world __is it strawberry?_

“Nothing” the other girl murmured before shifting to a different position. Now Nico was completely awake and there was no way that she would be able to sleep this night. She couldn’t move either, since she would disturb Maki’s sleep this way, so she was just lying there for 10, 20, 30 minutes, thinking intensely. Whenever she feels like calming down and trying to sleep, her thoughts just accelerate yet again into an never ending spiral of doubts and fears. After what feels like an eternity – probably just around 60 minutes – Nico shifts a bit towards her junior and whispered “Maki? Are you still awake?”. She waited a bit, but as expected, she did receive no answer.

Luckily at some point her exhausting kicked in and she was able to achieve to get at least some sleep.

This night, Nico’s dreams were especially vivid. In her fantasy she was swapping between scenarios of her recent apology, each time resulting in a different love confession and how Maki could have reacted differently for the sleepover regarding each of them. In some scenarios, they talked about arbitrary topics, in others they began cuddling. But like every good dream, Nico gets ripped out of them at some point and she begins to wake up as she notices movement outside her dream world. She smells strawberries yet again.

Nico opens her eyes just a bit, light barely entering her room as the curtains were defending Nico against the harbringers of daytime. Nonetheless the room was surprisingly bright, still her vision occupied fully by nothing but red strands of hair. She feels warm and surprisingly comfortable making her wish to trail back into the realm of dreams. But something seems odd to Nico. As she regains the consciousness over her body little by little, her face begins turning red as she notices her hugging Maki from behind, pressing herself against the back of the taller girl. She must had done it out of reflex at some point of her sleep. Maki grumbles in her sleep as Nico flinches.

Just as Nico wonders about the time, she check the clock at the wall. She stares at it for around five seconds before she processes the information. _10.17am, we are late._

“Maki. Hey, wake up.” she shakes the sleeping girl. _She really has the sleep of a __diamond __princess, _Nico pictures. She really would like Maki to sleep a bit longer or even take a picture of her. _She is so cute! _However, they really haven’t much time left, if they don’t wanna make the others angry. _This is some amazing bedhead._

“Maki. Come on, we need to go.” she tries once more. _Why didn’t I set my alarm clock?, _Nico realizes, that she wasn’t even charging her phone over night resulting in the battery to die. _Stupid Maki, _getting her always nervous, _I won’t have time to charge it before we need to go._

Finally she reaches the redhead as she begins moving, exiting her night slumber in a snails pace.

“What are you doing in my bed?” she grumbles. _Right, Maki isn’t a morning person. _Nico found this out on their last trip. Nico hopes, that Maki will never find out about coffee.

“Don’t force me to say embarrassing stuff, Maki~” Nico was back on her persona, stretching the other girls name as long as possibly considered cute.

“Ugh. How late is it?” Maki just proceeds after remembering the reason she was here in the first place, ignoring Nico’s attempt to make a scene.

“Late, let’s go.”

Nico quickly collected a few fruits so they can eat them on their way for breakfast, got ready and exited the apartment after she made sure that Maki was somewhat awake. She had stopped and assisted Maki in last minute emergency changes to her hair as the bedhead was still standing and Maki was still on doze mode. With a zombie Maki in tow, Nico was heading for the train. Hopefully Nozomi won’t notice, that they came together as Maki would need to take a different route to the location entirely this time. Nico wasn’t really in a mood to explain anything to anyone at all until she figures out herself.


	4. Hospital Tour

The final week of school before the long expected holiday weeks was rounding up, Umi, the president of the archery club, sitting in the school idol research club room, finishing up her math exercises due to next class. Kotori was sitting next to her, occasionally looking over as she wanted to understand the equational steps herself, also scribbling around in her notebook for costume ideas, expecting a striking idea to improve the individuality of her current line. Instead of heading for practice on this day, they democratically decided to practice dance routines in the morning before tomorrows final classes, giving all of them additional time to work on the deadlines for classes. Nonetheless, like in the regular case of having no official club meetings, there were always a few members of µ’s coming around, using the room for diverse reasons as most places on school were rather noisy.

“Why did you do this one again?” Kotori’s voice filled the silence, pointing with her pencil above a line of formulas on Umi’s notebook. Meanwhile Honoka was sitting close by, juggling a pen on her nose. The normally energetic and hard-working girl had decided to take a short break from struggling with her Japanese homework. Most of the time Honoka would rather space out while pretending to actually achieve progress as Umi was somewhat of the strict parent replacement.

A quiet knock on the door disrupted the three second years activities as Nico was walking in.

“A bit early for a Christmas outfit, isn’t it, Nico-senpai.” Umi declared at the notice of the stack of colored outfits on Nico’s arms before turning back to her math problem.

“Did you bring me something too?” Honoka jumped up, being interested in anything to escape her dull task, earning herself a grim glance by Umi as the impact made Umi spill some ink on her notes. In fear of trouble, Honoka apologized immediately while Kotori was smiling amused before interfering “I asked Nico-senpai to bring a few Christmas outfits. For reference. And as material.”

“Are we getting cute Santa costumes?” Honoka thrilled yet again at the idea, bobbing up and down in her chair, realizing her mistake, apologetic looking at Umi.

“You just want to show off in front of Tsubasa.” Umi notices with a subtle angry undertone, Honoka just smiling, getting somewhat red from the accusation.

The conversation died off shortly after and everyone was back at doing their own thing, Umi still working on an especially nasty derivative, Kotori inspecting the material of the costumes Nico brought for her and… Honoka taking her time of sending a message on her phone, most likely to a certain A-Rise member. Nico herself was sitting down at the end of the table, taking out her phone herself. Swiftly she was browsing through a few idol websites she previously marked as favorite as getting news related to anything to do with µ’s or Love Live were crucial for the survival in the school idol world. However, since she had checked last time, nothing of significance was posted, thus Nico finishing her check up rather fast, leaving her with no occupation. Shortly after she decided to put back her phone, but the small light in the corner of the device began blinking, thus Nico reflexively turning the phone screen back on. It was a message by _Princess N1kino_, a shared effort of hers and Maki’s brain power to create a catchy user name for the younger girl. Nico was eyeing the notification displaying a short text message next to the smiling face of Maki doing the _Nico-Nico Nii _pose. Nico forced her junior to practice it at some point and reached for the opportunity to immortalize it, earning her a chop on the head as worthy trade of in her opinion. Her eyes were shifting towards the text.

Princess N1kino: CANNOT COME TODAY. HOSPITAL.

Nico’s face began turning pale from one second to the next, her hands shaking, forcing her to put down the phone on the table in order to not drop it. Nico felt a coldness rising through her entire body, soon her hands were numb, a weird, never sensed emotion climbed into her chest, pinching and squeezing her heart, making her feel a pressure against her body as if it wanted to press her body into the size of a water bottle. Pressing the notification, she read the message again, strengthening every miserable feeling she had by a tenfold. Hospital. What was she supposed to do? Is this a prank? No. Maki would never prank Nico in such a cruel way. There were boundaries of what they would dare to throw at each other. Stung by a bee, Nico’s fingers jumped around the display, typing a message.

No.1 Idol: Maki?! Are you okay?

No answer, which wasn’t really a surprise for Maki… in general, but this was somewhat of a different kind of situation, Nico figured. Nervously shifting around on her chair, also making Umi nervous, Nico waited for what felt like an eternity, Nico multiple times turning of the screen just to unlock her phone a couple seconds later again. Finally, a _read _sign popped up.

_Princess N1kino is typing…_

The typing status disappeared and… Nothing. No answer. Maki’s status changed back to offline. Nico stared at the conversation for two, maybe three minutes, but Maki never answered. What the heck? Quickly the wildest scenarios rushed through Nico’s head, trying to explain herself whatever she just witnessed.

_Did _ _Maki_ _ had an accident?_

_But she read it, right?_

_Maybe she wanted to answer but a doctor ordered her to put down the phone as she was being prepared for an operation?_

Not being able to wrap her head around it, Nico shoot up from her chair, letting the way too uncomfortable plasticware hit the floor loudly, alarming the other three members, now focusing on Nico each. Helpless the distressed girl looked around the others, her eyes filled with fear and panic, each of them staring back towards Nico expecting an explanation.

“I need to go.” Nico’s voice cracked, not able to bring out a more defined sentence as her thoughts were all over the place, still unable to process the whole situation, her thoughts still running wild about possible worst-case scenarios, quickly putting on her black wool jacket.

“Maki. Accident.” she brought out barely above the level of whispering before storming out of the club room, leaving behind three very concerned second years.

At first Nico was acting helpless, confused, like a lost child, wandering in zigzag lines towards the school gate. By the time Nico recollected herself mentally, she record-sprinted from the school property as her gear was kicking in, almost crashing into a mildly confused Eli on her way. In a swift manner the raven-haired bunny checked her Inbox, confirming her expectation of Maki leaving behind in fact no further messages to clear out the messy loop of negative thoughts accumulating in Nico’s brain. If Maki was being hospitalized, only the Nishikino General Hospital would be an option, Nico analyzed. At least, this much was clear for her. At least, she could be certain to find Maki there if nowhere else. While sprinting towards the nearest train station she double and triple- checked the fastest train connection to the hospital after she had found the address via phone, everything while sprinting towards the station, devastated at ever red traffic light.

Nico was on the way and nothing could stop her getting to Maki.

“I’m sorry, but I will need to stop you from going any further.” a nurse working at the Nishikino General Hospital politely repeated at the young, heavily breathing, _mildly_ stressed out girl. Nico ran every single meter in between changing trains, the full kilometer to the hospital and more just to be there as fast as possible and now, talking with this nurse, every word felt as if it was given to her in slow motion. _Why is everyone so slow? Nico cannot afford to take up anymore time!_

“But I need to find her!” Nico was begging, trying to make the most effective puppy eyes imaginable. Nico wasn’t proud of her effect, but having the stature of a middle schooler sometimes gave her privileges she could abuse in important situations like this.

“You can go to the information and ask for permission to see a patient, but I doubt you can see your friend as this part is for family only without a visitation form.” the nurse answered smiling emphatically, gesturing towards the entry of the hospital, clearly mistaking Nico with a young, lost girl looking for her parents.

Nico thanked her briefly and headed in the general direction the young nurse pointed towards. With an awkward combination of walking and running she roamed around the corners, focusing on the small signs on the walls until she spotted one reading _reception. _Continuing a bit faster, she turned right, spotting the next sign ‘till she finally spotted a rounded wooden desk with a single woman sitting at. Short on time, Nico reached for the reception and stared at the lady sitting at the desk expecting. It took some time ‘till Nico got noticed not due to her short figure but rather due to the receptionist idling around with focus on the computer screen in front of her. After clearing her throat _tactfully, _Nico got the attention of the somewhat irritated and seemingly annoyed receptionist. _Great!, _she thought.

“Excuse me, I want to visit my friend.” Nico asked, trying to sound as empathetic as humanly possible, which was a real struggle for the raven-haired girl as she wasn’t really in any mood for acting anything but panicky.

“Name and age” Nico got back in the most monotone tone she ever heard, the receptionist not daring to look at her.

“Ma.. Maki Nishikino, 15” Nico stuttered. _Her Name or Maki’s?_

“The Nishikino?” the woman looked at Nico for the first time, astound, scanning her from top to bottom. “If she would be a patient, the entire hospital would know. Who are you even? Is this a prank?” the woman asked accusingly, getting angry at the young girl as she probably pictures Nico to be around thirteen years at best. Nico might be in real trouble now, she pictured.

“Nico?” a familiar, confused voice reached Nico from left. She recognized this voice everywhere, it’s soft perfect tune, the feeling of warmth and happiness she associated with every moment of hearing it. Nico span around, seeing no one else than a confused looking Maki wearing a white, tailored mantle with three little black buttons and a fine black skirt. She was accompanied by a doctor, standing approximately two meters behind the young girl, eyeing Nico with an unreadable expression.

“What are you doing here?” she proceeds, Nico just staring helplessly, confused, but also a little bit relieved about Maki seemingly healthy. At a first glance, that is. “Maki… Are you okay?” Nico stuttered worried, looking up and down on Maki checking for bandages or other indications of an impairment, being only able to notice the sheer elegance the younger girl was emitting. _If it isn’t visible, she must have something serious, _Nico feared, finally feeling the overwhelming pressure crushing down on her, internally feeling tottery, dizzy, making it hard to get a clear though let alone formulate a sentence.

“I got… text.” Nico stuttered, holding up her phone, continuing to look between her friend and the accompanied man, trying to read clues by observing Maki and the doctors face, feeling the need to channel her inner self in order to relax.

“Maki, do you know this girl? Is she one of the middle school girls you were tutoring last year?” the man finally stepped in the conversation, the doctor moving forward, staring down Nico, making her visibly nervous. She hadn’t done anything wrong, but just this authoritarian glare made Nico feel as if she had done something unforgivable wrong just being at this place. Nico wasn’t even bothered anymore about getting misaged constantly, but she just felt out of place in this whole situation.

“This is a friend of mine. Her name is Nico.” Maki quickly obliged. Nico was just getting introduced, but somehow she felt excessively anxious afterwards as the man was inspecting her critical.

“I see. She has your schools uniform.” he concluded, “What are you doing here, friend of Maki.”

Maki was turning red before whispering something into the mans ears resulting in him sighing dramatically and nodding shortly after. After apparently receiving some sort of permission, Maki waved back at him and signalized Nico to follow her before she could add anything to the rudely asked question of the doctor. Nico obeyed, completely lost of the situation, but seemingly Maki wasn’t involved in a misfortune, comforting Nico immensely, giving her any possible urge to exhale.

“Your Dad?!” Nico shouted with a surprised expression. They were nothing alike, physically Nico meant. Him being rather on the high and mighty side of the spectrum was something Nico could totally imagine Maki to inherit, the ground work was already laid down.

“Yeah, he took me to a trip at the hospital. Basically showing me around. I couldn’t really decline, you know.” Maki explained, “Sorry, that we couldn’t hang out as planned. On this note, why are you here, Nico?”

“Why are you here, Nico?” she mimicked the younger girl infuriated, “You just wrote me a caps-locked message about being at the hospital, Maki? What would you think I assume at this moment?” Nico was getting more livid by the second, feeling more then just betrayed, pressing closer to her junior, observing her reaction closely.

Maki was putting a finger at her chin, taking time to analyze this question. She was thinking about the question for a short moment, which made it hard for Nico to restrain her anger. Was Maki really doing this right now? She can’t be serious, right? Finally, Maki answered with surprise mirrored in her eyes “You… You were thinking I was hospitalized?”

“Bingo. Watson is calling for you.” Nico answered frustrated. Admittedly, if this was a fake camera show, Maki surely got her this time, but knowing her junior she really was this dense. Nico didn’t mean to be so stinky towards Maki, but she was worried, like super worried about her. Did Nico mention she was worried? So, instead of showing gratitude towards the fortunate situation of Maki being healthy, she got pissed. And it had nothing to do with not going to the opening of the new conditory today, because she can totally go there another time and the special strawberry cake wouldn’t run away either. It was rather about Maki’s ability to shorten Nico’s lifetime by afflicting damage to her weak delicate heart.

“I’m sorry.” Maki whimpered guilty, breaking eye contact, staring to the floor.

“Yeah. You are always just sorry. It’s always fine. I sprinted over here, because I was in fear of something happening to you. I was worried, Maki. Like crazy! But it’s fine, right? Do your stupid tour. Have fun!” Nico declared and stormed off demonstratively afterwards, barely able to hold back her tears until she was out of range of her _stupid junior._ Maki was standing up, apologizing, wanting her to stay, but Nico couldn’t hear any of it. She masked out the voice she was paralyzed by before, stomping off the hospital property, tears blurring her vision.

Nico doesn’t need Maki and her stupid excuses, the small girl pouts, throwing a mini-tantrum, drawing in the gazes of some bystanders as she waits for the traffic light to turn green. But Nico didn’t care at all. She wanted to build up as much distance as possible to Maki at this very instant, basically sprinting across the street as soon as the lights turned green. If the other girl had just communicated to her that she had an important task, which she is probably at right now, but making Nico completely worried without even the slightest explanation is beyond disrespectful. This is not how Nico wanted to be treated by Maki. Nico was somewhat able to comprehend the mysterious ways in which the young pianists brain was functioning, but this delusional manner was just plain hurtful. Nico watched up from looking towards the tiles of the floor below her to orientate herself, sinking back to her thoughts after crossing the street, turning right.

Why is she even wasting her time with this girl? Sure, they are both part of µ’s and they need to operate together, but Nico is taking a lot of extra effort for the red-haired idiot. Nico has a good relation to all of µ’s members, besides maybe _Nozomi_, but especially important to her is Maki. She could just concentrate on her other friends and ignore Maki for now. Well, instead of ignoring her, she would compromise for having a bare minimum of contact to her. Maybe then Maki realizes her loss, but on the other side this girl is really stubborn. Again, Nico looks up, coming to a halt as she realizes that the sun has settled already. Christmas was not even a week away, but it got dark faster than she had expected. Nico still had to cook dinner for her siblings today since her mother got another late shift. She recently is taking more and more shifts, Nico observed, but as soon as she becomes a professional super idol, her mother can rest.

Soon Nico could barely make out the way, taking the occasional light source from a lantern on the other side of the street as assistance to guess the position of the silhouettes of cars standing on the side of the road to navigate. Just a couple hundred meters and she would reach the train station. _Should I get some soy beans on the way_, Nico thought as she remembered that she missed grocery shopping today due to a certain someones lack of communicating abilities. She frowned at the thought.

Suddenly a small light was shining behind her, ripping her yet again out of her thoughts. Curious, she spins around to realize her mistake as the light comes close fast. Nico wasn’t unable to dodge the cyclist which just started to notice the small girl. In an final attempt to dodge the girl, the cyclist tried turning, in the end just losing control as a metallic pedal hit Nico right in the shin, making her growl in pain. She fell, her head connecting with the ground. Everything was hurting, some warm liquid started touching her leg on the steaming hot area she previously got hit at and a voice is starting to shout obnoxiously loud. She is barely able to notice the young adult leaning over her, shouting something incoherently towards her before she passes out on the cold sidewalk.


	5. Hospital Tour II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanks for sitting this out with me and:
> 
> Happy Holidays to all of you.

After countless hours of following her father through the different facilities of the gigantic family hospital, getting presented to an army of staff of higher importance, an unsurprising, yet extensive quiz on _guess the diagnosis _based on symptoms and an inspection of estimatedly millions of surgeon tools and the usage of each of them, Maki felt defeated. She had only enough energy left to open the door to her bedroom and drop on the newly-made sheets, lying down in an uncomfortable position, unable to motivate herself to even move the slightest bit to reach a cozy spot. Her stomach was rumbling painfully, but Maki was way too worn-out to even think about eating anything before sleep. All these different kind of scalpels, each given a specific set of tasks were floating around her head until she got dizzy just by thinking.

It took a decent amount of time until Maki was able to get away from these fevery thoughts, leaving her with nothing but emptiness and the poaching in her head. Finally, she was able to find the willpower to fully climb on the bed and at least remove her mantle, dropping it to the floor. In moments like this she wished for a less fatiguing life and rather a less complex one like she imagined Nico to have. Maki would never confess this to anyone, especially Nico, but sometimes she adored Nico for everything she got. The small, mostly annoying girl had no obligations like Maki did, yet she was doing everything she wanted. Maki was wondering whether the raven-haired girl might be able to even achieve Maki’s goals if she would have decided to reach these goals as Nico’s motivation for her passion was unrivaled.

Soon darkness overcome Maki’s thoughts and she lied there sound and sleep, her dreams filled up by a certain troublesome girl invading Maki’s dreams in the recent days.

Sprinting across the schoolyard, Maki was heading late for the one special early morning practice routine. On the last school day before Christmas of all days they had to absolve this exhausting training routine before classes, which were especially challenging as the teachers were rushing through the chapters they weren’t able to cover before just to be on part with the massive set of holiday homework. On her way, she was running into Rin and Hanayo casually walking towards the rooftop. Catching up to them, Maki decided to slow down as she wouldn’t be the last to arrive anyway.

“Good Morning, Maki. Nya.” Rin jumped at her, locking her in a hug. Trying to free herself, struggling to resist falling down, Maki looked beggingly in Hanayo’s direction, frowning as she sees her friend just giggling, spectating Maki’s struggle. _Sadist, _Maki thought. Unfortunately, Honoka was close behind them, deciding to throw herself into the hug, creating a Maki-Rin-Honoka pile with a whimpering Maki on the bottom.

After a short moment of decomposing the pile and a few complaints from Maki, the four girls headed to the roof just to get glared on by Umi, getting calmed by a cheerful Kotori. Just then Umi remembers the previous day and gets confused by Maki’s presence.

“Are you fine, Maki? Nico mentioned something about you being at the hospital.” she asked, now everyone looking at her. Eli, Nozomi, Hanayo and Rin looking visibly worried as they haven’t heard about this yet.

“Nico got the wrong idea. I might have formulated myself bad. I was just visiting my parents hospital.” Maki explained, playing with a strain of her hair, Eli laughing from the idea of a worried Nico panicking for nothing as she briefly passed her yesterday, earning herself a frowning glare from Maki.

“Wow, your parents have a hospital.” Honoka answered impressed.

“You already know this, Honoka.” Umi lectures her.

“But still.” the vivid second year was sparkling.

“Speaking of the devil, where is Nico?” Nozomi wonders, looking at Maki as she is mostly arriving with the small girl in tow. At least for the after-class events. And maybe this one time when she stayed over at Nico’s. And maybe they also hang out before lives to relax. But it’s not like they arrive together every time, right?

“I don’t know.” Maki justifies herself, getting embarrassed as she remembers yesterdays inharmonious encounter, feeling Nozomi’s stare intensifying.

“Maybe she is trying to dodge today’s math test” Nozomi hums, all eight of them nodding in agreement as they could picture this all too good.

Shortly after, they began training. To Maki’s displease they couldn’t rehearse the dance choreographies yet again as Nico was missing, thus Eli was drilling them to perfect the core movement patterns in the least enjoyable ways imaginable. Maki was really enjoying the life of a school idol, but she would never overcome her repulse towards the physically exhausting drills. Normally, they would also train the complex dance patterns of their future performances, but these were mostly handled by Nico.

“And stop.” Eli shouted a last time, stopping to clap the tact, signalizing the end of the training session. Exhausted, Maki was sitting down, taking the water bottle Kotori offered her. She had survived the morning session, but classes were yet to come, also an afternoon training session was coming up afterwards and she already needed a shower. Maki was already certain about complaining to Nico later for skipping today. She was just waking up today and struggling in school so she could enjoy going to the zoo later with Nico, who hasn’t given her a reason for her absence today. Maki assumed the after school activity to be canceled as she didn’t knew how to handle stuff like this.

A glaring white light flashed before her eyes. Darkness. Again the garish light appeared, penetrating the closed lids of her eyes, vanishing yet again, leaving black dots in the middle of her vision. An immense pain was curling throughout her body, an unpleasant sound periodically reaching her ear. Steps... someone pressed obnoxiously reactive buttons to her right and she felt some liquid entering her body, making her feel disgusted by the sensation. Soon, the pain lessens and she lost consciousness yet again. She woke up a few times, most of the times hearing a couple of steps, on others just a the sound of periodically drop of water. Feeling exhausted and weakened and pained, she barely stayed awake for seconds, maybe a few minutes each time, unable to understand whether she was even awake or asleep sometimes.

Nico was opening her eyes, bedazzled by bright light, her head spinning. She was getting greeted by a white, grayish room with just a single framed picture on the wall of colored shapes in an attempt to break the one-colored mess of a room. Nico inspected the long, transparent tube sticking on the side of the bed, reaching into her arm, feeling a cold substance entering her body. She felt grossed out, shivering in disgust. It took some time for the pain in her left leg to manifest itself, luckily it wasn’t intense, rather an inconvenience. At first she wasn’t processing the situation she was in, but after a few moments of looking around she got hit by the revelation. _She__ got hit_ Almost looking calm at first, panic spread across her face, Nico starting to check her body for injuries, stopping shortly after. _My leg,_ she though, imagining the worst. Gulping, she stared at the white blanket blocking her view. She lifted the blanket and peaked below it to look at her plastered left leg. Nico started feeling sick at the view, taking a moment, resisting to throw up. Just moments later she was in tears, part due to being sad for being unable to perform with her friends, but also thankful for not having lost her leg. In an odd mix of grief and joy she began laughing because of her conflicting emotions, surprising the nurse opening the door in this very moment. After looking concerned at the high school girl, she entered the room and checked on the machines controlling the odd fluid entering Nico’s body, also making sure that Nico, who is currently bursting out in laughter in an attempt of stopping, was fine.

A few moments after the nurse leaving, an elderly man entered the room, greeting Nico, assumingly a doctor according to the dress code and stigma for old grumpy man in hospitals to be either doctors or senile patients. The girl could luckily stop laughing before the man entered the room, rescuing herself from being labeled insane by a professional (again, if the main ain’t just some senile patient).

“Good Evening, Miss Yazawa. I’m Doctor Harada.” he said empathetic, walking towards the end of the bed, Nico being quite, trying to sit upfront. Grabbing a small pen, he ran through a few pages, occasionally scribbling something on them, Nico wondering whether he read even a single word considering the speed he was handling the wall of paper stapled to the board.

He proceeds “We have informed your mother about your accident. She will be here later this night.”. Nico just nodded, being too shy to answer the doctor.

In the following, Dr. Harada informed Nico about the full picture of her accident. Her left wrist was swollen beneath, which explains the pain when putting pressure on her left hand. Also, she got a mild concussion from the hit, thus the doctor would like to observe the healing process in the following week. _Nico would need to be here at __C__hristmas __E__ve!_ Also, her left leg had a tiny fracture, placing her at the fortune side of the spectrum as four weeks of rest and two additional weeks of low pressure would do the trick. In the end, Dr. Harada asked Nico whether she got any other ailments and said his goodbyes after she just shook her head in response, regretting to do so as she felt the pain running through her head.

Soon, Nico was idling around, way too pent-up to rest, not being able to pass her time since she might have lost her phone in the accident, leaving her with nothing but staring at the modern piece of art as it was the most interesting thing in the entire room to observe, just before this one odd gray area on the left wall, highlighting an interesting pattern. Nico got literally nothing to do so she might as well study this spot.

After what feels like an eternity of boredom and mild uncomfortable feelings (did Nico mention she was basically starving?) she heard a knock on her door. Expecting, she stared at the also white colored door, recognizing the voice of her mother talking outside with what seems to be a different nurse than before. Nico couldn’t make out all, but from snippets she caught it seemed like the nurse was informing her about some rules or something in this direction. Nico was waiting, slowly loosing her patience as multiple minutes passed on the clock centered above the entry. Finally, she heard them wrapping up the conversation, her mother finally entering the room, still dressed in business attire, Nico feeling overwhelmed, beginning to cry.

“Mom.” Nico basically squeaked, realizing to haven’t utilized her voice in a long time, her mother sprinting towards her as fast as her certainly unpractical heels would allow her, finally hugging her oldest daughter firmly.

“I was so worried when the hospital director called.” her mother said, fighting with her own tears, Nico unable to control hers already.

“Maki’s dad?” Nico asked surprised. He must be the head of the hospital, since it’s the Nishikino hospital, right?

“He must have a very feminine voice then.”

_Maki’s mother must be the director then,_ Nico concluded, making a mental note to verify this information later.

“Are you fine? What happened?” her mother flooded her with questions, Nico only able to answer this many questions in one breath.

“I think, I’m fine. My leg is broken, but it doesn’t hurt much. But I’m not allowed to go home even until Christmas.” Her mother, initially worried, now just smiling, her oldest child being seemingly as fine as possible under given constrains, leaning in carefully for a hug again. They stayed in this position for a couple seconds, Nico leaning on her mothers shoulder, feeling better by the second, the remaining bits of panic vanishing.

“Mom, can you contact my friends? I don’t want to worry them.” Nico whispered after a decent time, slowly releasing herself from the hug as leaning forward was still exhausting.

“You mean specifically the girl sleeping in your room last time?” her mother said, smirking at Nico, making her uncomfortable.

“Mom, you make it sound weird!” Nico pouts, turning red embarrassed, nervously kneading the sheets. _No, __Nico__ just made it sound weird, _Nico realized, her checks glowing up in response.

“You face turns quite red for someone having no _weird _thoughts.” Nico’s mother said provokingly, distracting her daughter, also enjoying to finally have found a new side of her.

“Mom.” Nico begged, covering her face with the sheet, beginning to feel sleepy as she does. Nico was seriously embarrassed, but she enjoyed the time with her mother and almost forgot about her leg if there wouldn’t be the constant ponding. Also the constant pressing on her forehead was a thing she couldn’t blend out. To Nico’s displease her mother needed to leave in order to care for her other children. But before leaving, she handed Nico a small pink item. _Nico’s phone._

“One of the assistants dropped it, I believe. A nurse gave it to me before.”

After a firm hug, her mother was gone, Nico smiling as she now knew, she could tell her mother everything she was struggling with. Whenever she would have a problem with the red-headed pianist, she could maybe consult her mother instead of trying to find out on her own. Maybe her mother would know what to do. Also, Nico was getting clear about the kind of feelings she had developed over the course of this year. Someday, Nico would tell Maki, … maybe. _Someday._

After acquiring the ability to contact her friends _and Maki_, Nico immediately chose to contact all her friends _and not Maki_ about the reason for her missing. Cleverly plotting, she sent a message to Eli, since Nozomi would tell Maki instantaneously, Hanayo, since she would likely share it with Rin, and Kotori as she was probably with Honoka and Umi since they watch movies together each Friday. Nico wasn’t really excluding Maki, but she felt weird about informing her about her accident. Especially after she just ran away from Maki. It was not rational to try to hide her dilemma from the stubborn red-headed girl she might or might not like in a different way then her other friends., but it still felt like the choice to do. For now.

The answers were immediate as her phone started vibrating heavily and two calls were reaching her simultaneously. Overwhelmed by the already two-digit number of text messages and the phone overlay displaying a call from Honoka and Rin, Nico nearly dropped her phone. After calming down from the initial shock, balancing the device in her tiny handy, she accepted the call from Honoka and linked Rin into the conversation.

**Honoka:** “Nico, are you fine? Shall we come over right now?”

**Rin:** “Yeah, are you okay? Hanayo and I are worried about you, nya!”

In the background, Nico could hear Umi and Kotori whispering something, shifting closer to Honoka.

**Nico:** “I...” she could just bring out, still overwhelmed by the fast escalation. She wanted to start talking again, but she got interrupted by a high sound signalizing another user in the group call.

**Nozomi:** “Hey.”

**Honoka:** “Nozomi. Did you already hear from Nico?”

**Nozomi:** “Mhh. Eli told me something. Is everything okay?”

The others were talking uncoordinated, stopping each other mid-sentence most of the time, Nico still just listening to them, making out Hanayo’s, Eli’s, Umi’s and Kotori’s voices fusing to a bundle of background noises. Finally, Nico exhaled dramatically, calming down the chaotic call by a small margin.

**Nico:** “I’m fine, I guess. My leg is broken and apparently I have a mild concussion. So it would be nice to be a bit _less hectic.” _

Nico was trying to emphasize the last two words, catching herself to form quotation marks with her hands despite being alone in the room. Realizing how stupid she should look, Nico started laughing excessively. Normally, she was able to contain herself, but maybe this was the effect of some medicine, she wondered.

**Honoka:** “Oh no. Nico broke!”

**Rin:** “She turned insane, nya.”

Honoka earned herself a _enthusiastic head pa__d_ as Kotori might refer to Umi’s technique of giving Honoka a head chop, whenever the mandarin-headed girl did _Honoka things, _which is basically a translation for _every time she was annoying Umi._

“Is there something you need, Nico-chi?” Nozomi, still part of the call, asked calmly, the other girls finally being quite.

“Right now, sleep. I’m tired as hell. Kinda hilarious since I just got a full dose of sleep. But I’m forced to stay here for another week thanks to this stupid concussion or whatever, so I will get bored. I wouldn’t mind some distraction from this boring place. They got no idea how to decorate a room over here.” Nico ranted.

Afterwards, the four were chitting a bit, everyone promising to visit Nico soon. Umi was busy the next day, but Honoka promised Nico to visit her together with the other second years two days from now latest. Exhausted from the tumult, Nico called it a day and bid her goodbyes to everyone. After ending the call, she stared at her phone for a short period, hovering her finger over Maki’s contact icon, considering to give her a call or leave a message. In the end, she decided to put her phone on the small night table next to her and worry about Maki later, like tomorrow.

The events of the following day were as dull as Nico expected them to be. She got served the least appetite bringing meal she ever saw in her entire life. Well, at least she got served food for once, bringing her closer to her dream of having an own chief. Nico just never expected it to be like this. With a bit of courage, Nico began spooning the weird looking, semi-liquid _soup. _She tasted potatoes, hoping they originally were used for this dish as she knew a bit about the ways of making food taste like something without using this given _something._

Later, she was, sitting in a wheelchair, taken by a nurse to a different floor, Nico spotting some fancy looking devices through some windows, like a big rumbling tube being able to fit a human inside. In the end, Nico was brought to a small room and for some reason she was needed to play a round of memory, later asked to remember a couple of words. Afterwards she did a vision test, mostly just guessing the direction the small letters were facing, and also some sort of reaction test, pressing a button as soon as she saw a green light. Nico had no idea, what this was all about, but she began enjoying these small games fairly, making her even more bored after she was brought back to her room.

A couple of hours later, she finally reached a state of advanced boredom, even considering to phone Maki, but she swore herself to ignore the first year at least for a few weeks just to make her position clear regarding Maki’s inability to not distress Nico. It felt like a victory, imagining meeting Maki at school after the Christmas break, everyone but her behaving unsurprised while Maki is panicking about Nico’s broken leg, seeming like a moment she might enjoy. Still, Nico felt a sting in her side, feeling the irony of her actions considering she hasn’t told Maki about being hospitalized. Just as Nico was playing with the thought of calling Maki for real, someone knocked at the door and Nico was greeted by a familiar face. Two. Nozomi walking in behind Eli, both dressed in the blackest of blacks.

“Someone died today? Or… Don’t tell me, you are here to finish the job.” Nico acted scared.

“So, you finally figured us out.” Eli smirked, closing in on her victim, Nozomi closing the door.

“Finally, you are weakened and we can take your spot of being the number one idol from you. There will be no witnesses.” Nozomi impersonating an evil mastermind, moving in on Nico as Eli getting hit by a realization.

“Shot, we are registered as visitors. There is evidence. Stop the operation, Non-tan.” Eli shouted dramatically, all three of them bursting out in laughter.

“Thanks for coming, you two. It is really boring here. And the food...” Nico began ranting, feeling joy at the time she can have with her two closest friends outside the normal occasions of working towards Love Live. Going to Cafes and scolding Nico for acting up doesn’t count.

“So, why is it, that you two look like you just came from a funeral?” Nico trailed back to her first thought, Eli explaining that the two of them just went to a rather unusual performance for _Schwannensee_ where one of the conditions for the audience on the left side was to wear white attire while the right side was asked to wear black attire.

“Seems… Reasonable?” Nico answered, rather confused about the thinking process of the organizator.

“So, how was your _date _then?” Nico giggling, recently trying way too hard to ship these two.

“Fine.” Nozomi followed, placing her hand on Eli’s wrist, pulling her in for a hug with the intent of provoking Nico, making the blonde russian girls checks turn red.

“Uh. Congratulation.” Nico praised, acting surprised, clapping her hands in excitement, smirking as Nozomi’s joke was making Eli visibly uncomfortable. That gave Nico the clue she needed to confirm her thoughts on the kind of relationship these two had, yet there wasn’t enough fuel to expose them without it being viewed as just as joke.

After getting filled in on every small detail of the previous day, Nico decided that she could endure the same boring, still distressingly white walls for that long and achieved to be placed in a wheelchair with a bit of assistance by Eli and the nurse her friends asked for a wheelchair. She was only allowed to stay outside for that long, so Nico must keep an eye on the time.

Nico was able to move herself, but the pain in her still not fully healed wrist made it uncomfortable enough for her to give up, letting herself get driven around. “So. The doctor said something about four weeks of keeping this amazing accessory.” Nico sighed annoyed, feeling slightly dizzy at getting moved down a downward slope, clinching to the armrests on the chair.

“I think we can manage. Don’t worry too much, Nico-chi.” Nozomi hummed, carefully maneuvering her friend around.

“Maybe we could just opt for emergency sub-unit performances in the meantime instead. This way nobody has to wait. The delay in BiBi’s performance would be no problem as Maki is known for being a perfectionist when it’s about composing these.” Eli analyzes.

“This… this might do.“ Nico answers dispassionate. She knew, this was probably the best solution for everyone including herself. Nico still couldn’t but feel bad for making everyone change plans for her. She didn’t pay attention for a couple of seconds and this is the price she had to pay. Not just Nico, everyone else as well, she thought, looking back down.

They stopped. Nico looked back up, sitting halfway through some random floor, the small hospital park already in sight, shining in yellowish, reddish light from the setting sun.

“It is fine really.” Nozomi reassures Nico yet again, the small girl not responding.

“The first BiBi album was late anyway, having a bit of a delay again isn’t an issue at all.” Eli added.

“I have heard, that you and Maki made the process quite challenging.” Nozomi giggled, Eli frowning at the memories of keeping her two partners from shouting at each other.

“It was… a vivid experience.” Eli stated.

“I’m tired. Can we go back?” Nico states, still sulking. Her mood quite dropped, being remembered of Maki’s existence. Instead of accepting Nico’s request, Nozomi starts moving again, still heading for the park, resulting in Nico grumbling. There was no way of Nico escaping, especially in this situation as crawling back wasn’t an option either. Nico exhaled dramatically, accepting her fate to be in Nozomi’s hands.

“Fine, your win. Move your master, butler!” Nico pouts, Eli just looking towards the front as she didn’t want to interfere with the argument of the other two girls.

In the end, the stayed outside for something around ten minutes until they, predominately Nico, agreed to move at least back inside since the cold temperatures were a commonly known weakness of the normally energetic idol. Afterwards they just reached for the indoor lobby, being equipped with dozens of tables, connected to a small cafeteria, currently not in use. After a couple of minutes of just sitting in silence as neither Nozomi nor Nico were initializing any sort of conversation, Eli started. “Nico.” she firmly said, the raven-haired girl eyeing her expecting.

“So far we have talked about your injuries and their consequences for our idol carriers, but you never really told us, whether you are feeling fine.”

“Best time of my live.” the small girl deadpans.

“It’s not about this, isn’t it?” Nozomi digs deeper. A brief moment, Nico just sits there, still uncomfortable in the irritatingly scratchy wheelchair. After a while of playing around with the fabric of her hospital robe colored in the least trendy touch of green, she answers quiet. “No… Not really. But you probably know already anyway.”

Nico looks back up, facing the purple-haired, sometimes annoying, mostly supportive girl, determined staring at her eyes.

“Again trouble with your _Darling_?” Nozomi asks in a manner such that Nico doesn’t feel the normally teasing spirit Nozomi used to emit in situations like this. It’s just fair, Nico thought, remembering her just recent implications on Nozomi and Eli, which totally was true. They can’t fool her. She got an eye for these things. Also, she somehow notices herself humming the melody to _Daring!_ as Nico found the song quite catching, Eli chuckling as she recognizes it herself, both of them shouting “Darling, baby!” at the same time.

After a few laughs and a vivid discussion about the spelling error in the songs title – Maki was making the mistake on the first version, resulting in a constant tease by Nico, which was a catalyst for Maki staying with this name on purpose, they returned to the previous conversation.

“Maki is just… Maki.” Nico exhales stressed in a quick transition from laughing her heart out to feeling clinically depressed, Eli giving her a concerned look. Eli is mostly on Maki’s side anyway, so Nico doesn’t bother. Not just sharing the same sub-unit, but also being part of the soldier game-trio gave them an especially strong bond.

“That’s, uh… a statement, I guess?” Nozomi answers, creating a menacing silence, Nico trying to think of an answer.

“She doesn’t really care, whether Nico is worried. She is always making excuses for her behavior. Nico can have the shock of her life, but Maki is just _sorry.”_ Nico screws her face in an attempt to cross her arms, feeling immediate pain in her left wrist, Eli and Nozomi exchanging glares.

“How did she react to your injuries? I doubt Maki was anything but shocked and worried. Maybe even scared.” Eli asks.

Still fiddling the fabric of her attire, Nico was looking down, searching for words. An explanation, anything. She hasn’t told Maki yet, still she felt wrong about admitting this to anyone. From time to time Nico was throwing a short glance at Eli, still staring, expecting an answer.

“Nico-chi?” Nozomi asking softly, “You didn’t tell her, didn’t you?”

“No.” Nico finally admitted, her voice little, guilt rising inside her.

“But...” Eli started, looking at the small girl in shock as a loud voice stopped her.

“Nico!” an energic voice echoed through the halls, followed by a fast sequence of steps, the three girls staring in disbelief as a orange-haired girl launched herself towards Nico, luckily missing her by a hair. Rin was crashing into a bunch of chairs from the table just behind Nico such that Nico felt passive pain from seeing the crash unfold, however Rin really must be a cat as she is just standing up again. Praise the immortality of cats, Nico thought.

“Wait, Rin. It’s dangerous!” Hanayo’s voice resounded through the hall, the rice-loving girl not in sight.

After a brief period of time, Hanayo appeared from behind a corner, looking at the four girls sitting at the table as Rin already recovered and placed herself between Nico and Nozomi. Hanayo followed the other girls example and soon they were sitting in a small cycle, Nico reiterating over all news she already mentioned to Eli and Nozomi before. Rin was bombarding her with questions, while Hanayo tried to restrain her classmate. Soon, Nico felt the exhaustion hitting in, asking to getting escorted back to her room. After helping the injured girl back up on the bed, the others departed as they were pressed to exit by a nurse as visiting hours ended. In the end, all of them reached for a final hug and Nico was alone, yet again. Just this time, she wanted to be alone, drained by various discussions. She remembered Eli glancing at her in a worried matter because of the conversation they had before Rin’s and Hanayo’s arrival. Thankfully Eli didn’t said anything about it afterwards, but there surely was an unspoken argument left. Nico knew, she would need to talk to Maki.

Looking back at the phone, Nico opened the chat with Maki, typing in a few letters before deciding to worry about this issue tomorrow. She was exhausted and finding the right words could take a long time, right? Nico felt a Déjà-vu at shifting her responsibility to contact Maki yet another day, but she would surely do so the next day… maybe.


	6. Fuyu ga Kureta Yokan

Swiftly her fingers jumped above the keys, left hand jumping between octaves, her right quickly playing an ascending melody over three octaves, the glittering, ivory keys kneeling at the rapid touch. The piano escaping sounds filled the big living room, if it is not passing as a _hall, _replacing the ever pressing silence being a constant companion in the spacious Nishikino house.

After the final note was played, the final key pressed, Maki was resting her hands above the keys, exhaling in satisfaction. The current piece turned out to be challenging in a sense of her not being able to consistently reaching that one 10th chord she was forced to play. Maki, not intending to be satisfied with using the just slightly disharmonic 9th instead, practiced drills until she could reach the required chord. Deciding to end her daily workout after a big success, Maki closed the cover of the grandé, picking up her notebooks, filled with sheer amounts of scribbles only she would be able to deceiver, heading for one of the more comfortable seats at the glass table.

Just as she began to open up one of her notebooks, her thoughts derailed towards the small break of her hospital visit with her father three days ago. Not expecting her senior to head for her immediately after sending this _slightly misleading _text message, Maki felt happy at being occupied with anything not having to do with nodding at her father stating facts she was clearly expected to remember. To Maki’s misfortune, this conversation was also somewhat of a disaster as Nico left in anger, making Maki feel extra miserable.

In a quick motion, Maki unlocked her phone, hoping for any notice of the raven-haired troublemaker, sliding the phone back into the pocket of her skirt disappointed. If Nico would be there on Friday, they maybe could sort out all their trouble, Maki thought. _Like,_ _Nico __already hurt her __way worse __before_ and Maki still forgave her unconditionally. Now, neither of them would make a move, Maki probably having no contact to Nico before the end of the two week holidays. Frowning at the thought, she closed the notebook just to open it a minute later as she couldn’t picture anything interesting to kill time. She could contact Rin to meet up. Rin would be on board doing something to distract Maki, but Maki just didn’t felt to do anything right now. After Nico leaving Maki just felt uninterested in talking to anyone. It’s like she wanted to punish herself for something.

Not feeling any inspiration after writing down a firstly interesting sounding chord progression, Maki spaced out yet again, at some point just focusing on a few conservation snippets from a phone call her father was having in his neighboring bureau.

“I assume, it wouldn’t be necessary for my wife to be at the facility over the holidays just over a few additional patients. The administrative work can wait at least until the 27th.”

Why was Maki feeling so guilty about Nico’s absence? Her senior was very mature in Maki’s opinion, however the super-idol also got this overreacting side on her. Maybe Maki should really give her a call, given the pained face Nico was giving her. Maybe Nico really was just worried, unleashing her emotions in this stressing moment. Thinking about herself being placed in a similar situation, Maki would probably sprint across the country herself just to be at Nico’s side. Processing her own thoughts, Maki blushed.

“Fine, but assuming we are on track at the end of the 24th, there wouldn’t be a need to utilize all staff over the days. So, which patients are still open for formalities?”

She should apologize to Nico later. Sooner than later, she thought. Clearly, a small gift would appease Nico. What should Maki make her, though. At first some chocolate seemed fine, maybe too cheap. Cake? That’s maybe a bit much, what are they celebrating anyway. Something personal would be best. A composition? Maki was turning back her head towards the notebook, getting frustrated at the short time limit she would have. Additionally, gifting a self-composed song may be something considered being _romantic._ Not that Maki would care about the cheesy comments by anyone. _A song for you._ No, definitely not the moment for a song.

“Mh. Yes. Ok. Mh. Yazawa? This name sounds familiar somehow.”

Ripped from her thoughts at the mentioning of Nico’s surname, Maki turned her focus to her fathers conversation.

“Fine, we’ll do some extra hours before.”

At this point the conversation was wrapping up and soon Maki’s father put down the phone, looking up to see his daughter camping at the door to his bureau nervously.

“Was...” Maki stopped, not able to process clear thoughts. _What is the first name of the patient called Yazawa?, _seems to be an easy to ask question, but somehow she wasn’t courageous enough to ask it. What if he says her name. Would Maki still be able to stand there or would she break down. What is the chance of someone else with the name Yazawa to be the patient her father mentioned? It would fit. Nico wasn’t there on Friday and she hadn’t given any sign. Maki must find out herself.

“Can I head out for a few hours before dinner? I forgot something... important at a friends place.” Maki stuttered, trying to control her shaking hand, hiding it behind her back. _What if it is Nico?_ Her father looking to the side, eyeing the wooden analog clock next to a framed picture of their extended family.

“Fine, but I’d like you to be home as soon as possible. Give your mother a message if you are late, so we don’t need to worry.”

Maki briefly thanked her father, then excused herself, picking up a few items on her way, marching out into the cold. _What if it is Nico?_

Sitting in a train as she didn’t wanted to use the families chauffeur this time, her parents would be able to track her location in this case, Maki nervously glanced at the display with the following stations every few seconds. Suddenly, Maki was hit by the realization, that maybe one of Nico’s siblings had an accident instead and Nico wasn’t at school for this reason. _Still, w__hat if it is Nico? __But wouldn’t Nico had send Maki some sort of message in this case_, Maki wondered. Maybe Nico was still angry at her because of the fight on Thursday.

Carefully waging her options, Maki decided to hit Hanayo with a wage message.

**Princess N1kino:** “Did Nico-senpai mention anything to you?”

**Shiro-Kome-Kami:** “Not specifically. Did you already visit her?”

This text gave Maki enough information, also confirming her prediction of Nico ignoring her. It really must be because of last time, Maki pictured. After following up with a short answer, Maki decided to collect some information.

**Princess N1kino:** “How bad is it?”

Maki decided to contact Nozomi, because who would know better about the stubborn 3rd year? Surprisingly, Nozomi also noticed Maki’s text rather fast.

**SpiritualPower:** “I guess Nico didn’t contact you at all. Are you heading there right now?”

**Princess N1kino:** “What’s her state?”

**SpiritualPower:** “(ó﹏ò｡)”

**Princess N1kino:** “Please.”

**SpiritualPower:** “The worst thing might be her attitude. Don’t worry too much.”

**SpiritualPower:** “She is waiting for you. _(┐「ε:)_”

Maki closed the chat. Urgh. In moments like this, she somehow understood Nico’s pain to struggle with Nozomi, but presumably Nico is fine, which is the only important bit right now. She would doubt even Nozomi would be as manipulative as hiding crucial information.

Maybe Maki should hit up Eli to make sure.

**Princess N1kino:** “Can you tell me about Nico’s condition? Nozomi… you know.”

**Я_Harasho:** “She is waiting for you. _(┐「ε:)_”

Right, Nozomi is probably with Eli right now. Eli really should set up a password for her phone.

**Princess N1kino:** “Phone thief.”

Maki decided to put her phone back into her pocket as there was clearly no gain from asking her friends at this point. She was at her destination anyway. It was strange as she probably is reacting in the same way, Nico was before. She could understand the frustration of her senior now.

Her previous visits to the hospital were useful as Maki absolutely knew where to head as she swiftly navigated through the corridors of the ambulant wing. Luckily, Maki could get the room information without much of an uproar. Normally, there were a few members of the personal acting a bit strange in her presence, but maybe it has something to do with her father being mostly by her side in these scenarios.

Finally reaching room 419, Maki stood there, hesitating. _Was it even a good idea to visit her_, Maki wondered, picturing an infuriated Nico throwing pillows and insults at her. No. Maki has to be there for her. It is Maki’s fault that Nico was angry in the first place. Maybe she is directly responsible for Nico being at the hospital. What if Nico was just hurt and got into an accident because of it?

Filled with new determination, Maki knocked on the door, entering as she got sprung at by a wild Honoka, trying to exit the room in the exactly same moment, resulting in an unexpected head bump, making Maki curse under her breath.

“Ouch. Oh, hey Maki.” the still overly energetic girl shot at her, recovering from the head bump in merely a few seconds.

Not able to comprehend much in this short time frame, Maki got greeted by Honoka, Umi and Kotori as they left the room. Maki stood in the room she was determined to enter a couple seconds ago, door closed, Nico staring at her from the bed, not realizing how she just managed to stumble into this situation. Unable to react, Maki just stood close to the entry, focusing on the equally reactive girl. _Great entrance!_

“Hey.” Maki said, still concentrating her gaze on the raven-haired girl, sitting upright in the hospital bed, wearing a pink shirt with a picture of a bunny on it.

“Hey.” Nico responded, leaving behind an awkward silence.

At least two minutes passed before Maki continued “Can I sit down?”, Nico just nodding, Maki taking place on the small stool next to Nico’s bed, returning to square one as silence again filled the room. Maki, in an attempt to stop herself from plainly staring at the other girl doing exactly the same, noticed the clay vase filled with a bunch of mostly daisies, some hydrangeas and some _plastic peonies_?

“Yeah. A gift from Umi.” Nico stated, Maki just responding with an agreeing hum, before turning to silence again. _What was she supposed to say __anyway__? _Maki noticed the plastered leg, but wasn’t eager to talk about the injury. Nonetheless she felt releaved about Nico having no serious condition. Don’t get her wrong, Maki still felt worried and a bit of panic is rushing to her head from time to time, but giving her love for medical novels she feared worse, way worse. Knowing Nico, the other girl will handle everything just fine.

It was a weird situation. In the one moment she tries picking the fastest possible route, visiting Nico, worried like hell. In the next, she is involved in an awkward _seemingly round-based_ staring contest with the girl she just worried about, not showing any initiative to talk.

Maki wants to sort things out, but she felt as if there was some sort of invisible wall between the two of them, suppressing any contact. After shifting around uncomfortable, Maki noticed the rather small picture hanging on the wall.

“Somewhat ugly, but the only colored decorating in this room. Besides the flowers.” Nico stated yet again, invoking the same reaction from Maki once more, who wasn’t able to build up the courage to look at Nico.

“What the heck, Maki.” Nico shouts after a while, Maki finally looking at her, pitiful, confused.

“Did you come here just to win in a quiet game?” Nico pouts, “You sure are winning this one.”

“No… I.” Maki answered, looking for something to say, anything. In moments like this she would wish for her head to turn off, not constantly overthinking every single idea.

“You didn’t even invited me.”

_That was probably not the right thing to say._

“Heck, I didn’t. Leave if you want!”

“Fine!” Maki stands up, glaring in rage.

“But you are coming with me!” Maki closed in on Nico, tugging on her arm in an attempt to force her into the wheelchair. The idea wasn’t really thought through as Maki realized, she couldn’t just shove Nico from the bed into the chair, especially considering the small inconvenience of the broken leg.

“What the… Maki, that hurts! Fine, I’ll come, but wait.” Nico visible struggling under the pain establishing in her wrist after Maki grabbing her arm.

Somehow they managed to get Nico in the wheelchair without Nico punching Maki after showing how painfully inexperienced she was with helping someone. Barely after the small girl landed in a somewhat manageable position, Maki already began pushing the chair, Nico loosing her balance.

This was absolutely not how Maki imagined her visit to be. Firstly, she hoped some random person named Yazawa to be at the hospital instead of Nico. Yet, then she would just feel sad about the raven-haired girl ignoring her just for the sake of it. Secondly, she wanted to jump at her, hugging her, telling her how worried she was, telling her how sorry she was, telling her how devastated she would be if…

But instead of showing Nico all of this, she was expressing her emotions differently.

“What are we even doing? This isn’t rotary traffic!” Nico complained after being pushed past the same corridor the third time in a row.

“Why didn’t you tell me!” her opposite demanded, accelerating in frustration, Nico clinging to the armrests, not risking to extend her visit for a couple few weeks by falling from the chair.

“Slow down, Maki!” Nico demanded, accomplishing her goal by just a little, “What was I supposed to do? Cannot come today. Hospital?”

Maki exhaled annoyed.

“I already apologized. Are you so unreasonable because of last time?”

“Unreasonable? You have no right...” Nico started, stopping after Maki drifted around a corner, getting dizzy. Nico was glad, they stopped in front of an elevator, meaning a decreased risk of falling out of the wheelchair. _But still, she is getting kidnapped! _

“I have every right! You never responded. You never told me. I just heard about you being hospitalized. I was worried. Apparently for no reason! I even needed to ask around the others, because someone clearly wouldn’t talk to me!” Maki shouted after entering the empty elevator, giving her the privacy to increase her volume to her anger, Nico flinching under the strength of Maki’s voice. Back, when she ran around the hospital searching for Maki herself, she was calmed down by the very voice she is getting yelled at right now, getting dizzy under the volume.

“And I wasn’t?!” Nico answered in reduced volume, hoping the other girl to lower her voice herself as Nico still felt slightly exhausted from the accident.

“Y… Yeah, but this time something actually happened!” Maki stuttered at first, still shouting.

“Please, lower you voice. It hurts.” Nico whimpered as she was barely able to endure the pain anymore, sinking in her chair, Maki apologizing as she finally gets the message.

After reaching the rooftop, Maki began pushing Nico again, this time less anger-driven, carefully pushing her towards the flower bed, groomed by patients and therapists alike.

“Is there some ultimate reason you dragged me around here? Like, if you wanted to tell me something, you could also do so without kidnapping an innocent, weakened patient, right?” Nico said, already beginning to shiver under the cold. It may be around five degree, but Nico felt like minus ten at least. Maybe this was due to the thin shirt she was wearing, but Nico might need more data to support her hypothesis.

Maki made a thinking expression, “I thought you need to cool down.” Maki began to giggle, being glared at by Nico, unable to join in on that joke. “Stars, maybe?” the redheaded girl said, raising her chin, gazing at the perfectly visible night sky.

“I don’t want to break the mood, but I’m in not particularly interested in dying in this immense cold, looking at small, glowing circles in the sky accompanied by someone who tried to kill me multiple times in the last ten minutes.” Nico deadpans.

“Well, does it help if I apologize to you mother afterwards?” Maki smirks. _She actually smirks at Nico._ This would have been funny at any other time, but currently Nico felt like crap.

“We all laughed.” Nico stated, getting interrupted by Maki before demanding to get escorted back. “Look, it’s cancer.” Maki pointed somewhere in the sky exhilarated, carefully leaning against Nico.

“Just a broken leg, no need to be full of anticipation.”

“What? Urgh. No. I mean the constellation. Your constellation! Look.” This time she leans in on Nico, giving the small girl no choice but following Maki’s instructions.

“I get your joy for stars, but can we maybe do this later? I’m cold, I’m dying and I’m really exhausted. Sorry, Maki.”

For some reason, Maki intensified her gaze at Nico, staring her directly in the eyes, her face hovering close to Nico’s. Nico was just staring back at Maki, her dark amethyst-colored, glowing eyes facing directly at Nico’s. And Nico just stared back, impulsively smiling. _Why is she smiling? Wait,_ w_hy is Maki smiling back? _Nico got irritated by the soft, warm smile, barely a finger span away from her face. _Is she getting closer? Maki, what the hell!_

“Can we go back?” Nico begins, turning her head to the side flustered, her heart pounding, stomach feeling weird, thinking of what could have happened if she stayed still.

“Sorry, you said you were cold.” Maki answers softly, returning Nico to her room.


	7. Silent Tonight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Christmas time once more!
> 
> I really wanted to hit the Christmas chapter for Christmas.
> 
> I'm going to sleep now.

The still way too obnoxiously loud signal sounded, Maki sprinting towards the train, jumping into the wagon just before the door closes behind her. Heavily breathing she sat down in an empty isle, being observed by that one person who already eyed her sprinting towards the train. After calming down, Maki took out her phone and glared at the screen, a couple of notifications appearing after she connected her phone to the network. _Right, she should have written a short message to mom or dad. _Typing a one-line message to her mother Maki already knew, she’d get in trouble anyway.

There was a text from Rin asking her whether she would be available for dinner tomorrow, a formally typed message by Umi with a document containing her most recent attempt for lyrics matching her last melody and a picture from Nico. _Thanks for your mantle_ was typed below the picture of Nico holding up Maki’s favorite mantle. _Right, she gave it to Nico before to shut her down from complaining about the cold_. Maki just forgot to take it back. She’d just take it back the next day as she was invited by Nico to the annual Yazawa Christmas Eve party, hospital edition. Quickly, Maki responds.

**Princess N1kino:** “I’ll take it back tomorrow anyway. Don’t get it dirty!”

**No.1 Idol:** “You are coming?”

**No.1 Idol:** “But Nico looks amazing in it!“

**Princess N1kino:** “It’s my favorite.”

**No.1 Idol:** “Your favorite mantle on your favorite friend?”

**Princess N1kino:** “Give it to Rin then.”

_Great._ Nico changed her profile picture to one of herself in Maki’s mantle, clearly purely to tease her. To be fair, Maki must admit, it looks great on Nico, but it’s hers and Nico will annoy her with it anyway. Tomorrow Maki just takes something from Nico in response. Or she needs to give her something better, so Nico may return Maki’s mantle. _Maybe she could ask Kotori to borrow her the Little Devil Parker she once made for Nico_. With this idea in mind Maki began remembering that there may be an obligation to get a gift for a Christmas party anyway. _Is it appropriate to gift a Halloween themed piece of cloth someone else made for Christmas?_ There is always that song she began, but she already decided that this wouldn’t be possible to finish in time.

It is not Maki’s fault anyway, that she forgot to take back her mantle. Just as she wanted to take Nico back to her room, Maki was mesmerized by Nico’s shimmering ruby eyes, feeling some weird desire. And when Nico began smiling, Maki couldn’t but keep getting closer, drawn in by the mysterious force emitted by her senior. And when she wanted to leave, Nico grabbed her arm, pulling in Maki for a hug, which was weird in itself, but then Maki felt this same sensation yet again._ Is there some medical explanation for this?_

Maki sat down in her room, picking around in her salad she could obtain from the remainings of dinner, typing in keywords in her computer. _Transferable symptoms patient. _Just some weird article about spinal chord dysfunctions. _Symptoms patients relatives._ A list of known hospital germs most likely to infect visiting relatives; again, nothing explaining Maki’s weird feeling.

A couple of minutes passed and somehow Maki found herself looking through cases off epidemic mass hysteria. _Interesting on its own, but not what she was looking for._ She should do a hard reset on her search and start with a new idea. But is there even any reasonable explanation? Maybe she should ask her father about the symptoms. _Okay, Maki needs a new angle. _

_Weird Feeling Friend. _These keywords were as generic as possible, giving Maki all possible options to check for all possible explanations. She began reading an article.

_Do you have this odd feeling in your stomach close to her?_ Uhm, somehow.

_Is there something invisible pressing against your chest before speaking to her? _Yeah! That are exactly the symptoms Maki was looking for.

_Does she irritate you in the weirdest ways? _Totally. Nico is one hell of an irritating person.

_Do you act different from usual in her presence? _Well, technically? She wouldn’t curse at Rin or Hanayo.

_Then you are in love. Congratulations!_ Wait, what? Maki drops her fork, smearing dressing all over her desk. This isn’t the reason at all!

“This isn’t helping” Maki exhales annoyed, wanting to close her laptop as she notices the small text on the side stating C_ompatibility Test_. Maki doesn’t believe in this stuff, but purely for entertainment she might play along, pressing the small button. First she should fill out the first name of both persons. A bunch of questions appeared on the screen. _Do you enjoy your time with Nico? Is there something special about Nico? Do you have common hobbies? How often do you see Nico per week? How long do you know each other? _

Clearly Maki knew what to do. Each question is basically a _Do you like her?_ in disguise so she just selected the option corresponding to _No_ every time. A loading sign popped up on the screen and just a couple seconds later the got redirected to another site.

_You are 94% compatible. You may be too shy to admit it, but [match_name2] is very close to you. Take your time and enjoy every moment!_

This must be an error, Maki flinches in her seat, staring at the unbelievable result. She clicks on the same test again, this time selecting every other answer. Again, a loading sign.

_Congratulation! You are 100% compatible. Enjoy your time with [match_name2]._

This was ridiculous. She could basically press every combinations of options and would get the same result. After cleaning up the remaining mess of dressing and maybe at most a couple of minutes (or longer) of looking at articles about signs of love, Maki decided to drop onto her bed and set her alarm for 8am. Maki wouldn’t wake up before 10 on free days, but she still needed to get to Kotori’s house after she could talk Kotori into handing over the Parker. _Maki couldn’t even believe herself that she was going for this __stupid idea._

To Maki’s surprise it turns out rather ineffective to set an alarm without unmuting her phone in the first place. Luckily she noticed at around 9 and now she was sitting on the train, the finest sort of bed hair decorating her head. Looking at her phone, Maki realized she hadn’t responded to Rin yet, thus she apologized for answering late and asked for the time of their meet-up, but Rin was probably still asleep. _Maki wouldn’t be awake herself if she wouldn’t be forced to._

Finally finding the house corresponding to the address given by Kotori, she was already greeted by her cheerful gray-haired senior waving at Maki from a first floor window. Before Maki was confronted with the idea of feeling affection for Nico, she wouldn’t mind. _Or did she just not noticed?_ Well, Nozomi was always making jokes about her and Nico, but this was rather to annoy Nico, right? Anyway, when taking the outfit from Kotori, Maki got the impression of Kotori thinking the very same, smiling suspiciously at Maki. As Maki opened the bag with the costume in, she noticed.

“There are two costumes?” Maki said confused.

“Yeah. Remember the costume line from _Dancing Stars on Me? _The outfits are totally matching, so I included your outfit from back then.” Kotori chirped, proud to surprise her junior.

“Bwuah. Thanks, I guess. But I don’t need it.” Maki stuttered, unsure how to act, moving the bag in Kotori’s direction.

“Don’t worry. It’s my present for Nico.” Kotori responded as cheerful as ever, Maki thanking her awkwardly before leaving, feeling pressured in accepting the second item from Kotori. _They totally di__d __set this up. _Maki began to wonder who was in on this weird prank. _Nozomi, Kotori, maybe Eli. Umi wouldn’t play along with this childish game, neither would Hanayo. __But then she couldn’t picture Kotori either. Weird. __What about Rin, Honoka…_ _Nico?_ _Maybe this is some sort of prank Nico initialized. _Maki ends her trail of though as her phone vibrates. A message from Rin. She asks whether Maki has time in the early evening, they’d like to meet at a restaurant for which Rin put the address in the message. It was some fancy white rice serving place Maki remembers Hanayo to talk about with Rin. However, Maki would need to decline as she was with Nico at this time. Maki still cannot believe just accepting Nico’s offer, but she is somewhat responsible for her senior as her condition is directly connected to the misunderstanding she fabricated.

**Princess N1kino:** “Sorry, I’m at Nico’s at this time. Let’s meet another time. Maybe after Christmas?”

**Rinya~:** “Uhh. At Nico’s? Have fun (ΦωΦ)”

**Rinya~:** “Let’s talk about meeting up afterwards. Maybe Nico-senpai can join?”

For now Maki chose not to answer. She began feeling paranoid about her friends, so she might get some information from Hanayo later. Maki can’t get off the feeling of Rin being rather implicit in her message. But maybe Maki just started seeing hints. It’s time for Maki to head back home, get her remaining preparations done and make herself presentable for the party involving all Nico clones.

On her way home, Maki crossed paths with Umi, literally. They bumped into each other around at a crowded corner at the train station. Maki found out that Umi was heading for Kotori’s place as the two second years had planned a small day trip from early noon until the evening to get back to their families. That also explained why Maki was asked to meet up with Kotori this soon in the morning. The day was barely beginning, but Maki already felt exhausted, tired and in need of a nap as she wasn’t build to exist this early.

At home she decided to take this anticipated small nap, however afterwards she felt just terrible. There was still the option to just cancel the whole plan. It was somewhat of a wild idea anyway. But Nico…, she thought. Nico, idling around all day in the hospital, would really appreciate Maki’s presence. And Maki would be happy in retrospective to attend the event instead of killing time alone anyway. Her parents wouldn’t come back before midnight as there were some work-related things to do so they can stay home over the Christmas days. Giving a brief glance at the clock, Maki decided to make herself presentable.

A mild cough escaped the girls lungs, her left nostril dry as the desert, her left running like a waterfall. Nico felt cruddy, just perfect for Christmas. Her head was pounding and loud noises made her feel this staggering pain in the front of her skull. She will clearly enjoy the evening, feeling pain after every slightly above whispered sound. Nico shouldn’t have been outside, at the rooftop of all places last evening, but Nico couldn’t really blame herself, couldn’t she? Her destiny was taken out of her hands the moment she didn’t resist Maki dropping her in this cheap wheelchair. Nico could maybe have scratched Maki’s arms, crawling away, also increasing the likelihood of her being taken to a brain doctor afterwards. Anyway, Maki would just walked one, maybe two steps to pick Nico back up. Her mood wasn’t really getting up for the Christmas spirit when two men walked in her room, deploying a small decorated tree in one of the corners of the room. The number of different colors in the room just increased by a tenfold or so, but in the process there were a couple of annoyingly loud sounds. And Nico couldn’t take it.

A few hours past and Nico carefully took the crutches she was given and idled around the facility. The medicine she was given before slowly began to have an effect as her headache was getting less noticeable. Nico also found out, that there was a piano at the facility, the fine sound of piano keys reaching her ear. Walking towards the origin, Nico almost dropped her chin, catching reddish colored hair. But it was darker and way longer. And the person at the piano was smaller then Maki. Around middle school, Nico expected. Later she found out, that the small girl with a pin formed like a lily flower was also in the unfortunate situation of being stuck at the hospital for medical reasons. Additionally, she was still in elementary school, but already set her goal of going to UTX. _She may change her goal when she realizes Otonokizaka high is way better for a musical career. At least after they won Love Live. _Apparently another musical prodigy. She would be a great junior for Maki, Nico pictures.

Later Nico was heading for the small park in the back of the hospital property, frowning, noticing the receptionist from before. The woman didn’t notice Nico when she walked past her. Ironic, how Nico sprinted to the hospital to check on Maki just to get herself delivered back in after leaving. Maybe she was sent some weird sort of sign. But for what? Being angry at Maki for making her worry? Whoever is sending her this weird signs must be psychotic.

Before heading back, Nico decided to order treat herself to a small dessert from the cafeteria, almost chocking on a piece as she spots Maki’s father on the side, releasing his bottled up anger at the staff. Would he act this pathetic in Maki’s presence, Nico wondered, picturing him going all sweet and nice in front of his daughter. He could also be the type of parent shouting at their children in the delusion of doing so because they love them. But Nico was clear about one thing. Her father was the best, gifting her with virtually anything she holds dear now. Whatever she must face, she will always face it smiling in honor of her father.

Checking her phone once more, Nico finally heard the stamping feet of multiple people close to her room. After suffering on a rush of coldness, she was back in bed, covered in everything she was given, including Maki’s mantle. The smell of it was making Nico feel warm and secure. Her headache was gone, the Christmas mood was slowly settling in. Nico was ready.

It didn’t took long for Nico to get nervous about Maki crashing by anytime soon, Cotaro still being busy with loading a bunch of items out of the not particularly small box his mother brought with her. While Nico’s siblings were busy decorating the tree with whatever they found in this box, Nico stayed in bed, still freezing from the attempt of moving to the wheelchair, plagued by the common cold she got herself yesterday. This Christmas might be a bit weird, but otherwise it would mostly be the same. Besides her mothers legendary stew everything would be the same. _It was the same, right? _Nico just traded a Kotatsu with a full-fledged bed. _Seems like an upgrade._ Despite this her mother apologized on multiple occasions for not being able to pull her out of the hospital early. While Nico was doubting that there was anything wrong with her in the sense of justifying the additional stay, Nico didn’t mind it. Also, for some reason she pictured Maki’s visit being connected to Nico still being at the hospital. Also she got herself a new friend in the small girl she previously met at the piano. Maybe she’ll see her again the following days. Feeling especially in mood for Christmas, Nico started playing some half-finished Christmas playlist, the same she used last year.

Humming the lyrics to _Last Christmas, _the others occasionally jumping in for a few verses, Nico didn’t hear the soft knocking on the door. Only the unreasonable placed _Backdancer _directly behind _Do you recognize me?_ made Nico look up, seeing Maki lingering awkwardly in the entry.

“Maki!” Nico waved at her enthusiastic, the redheaded girl glancing at Nico. After just a brief moment the previously petrified pianist came back to the world of the living, signalized by a stiff smile. Cotaro already gripping Maki’s leg, the young girl became flustered rather quick, amusing Nico. She might want to exploit the situation by teasing Maki a lot by using her siblings and the fact that Maki can’t handle social gatherings all to well, but Nico also felt the smirking gaze of her mother. _Right, she never told anyone about the guest._

“So. Your name is Maki. I think you didn’t mentioned it last time.” Nico’s mother said, greeting her with a formal hug, Maki just muttering incoherently.

Finally, after everyone was finished taking their time to greet Maki and combined forces to remove Cotaro from Maki’s leg she lingered towards Nico, which was waiting, staring at Maki the whole time, observing the weird spectacle of Maki trying out the ritual of greeting the others.

“Hey.” Maki smiled softly, hugging Nico firmly, yet carefully, because famous idols are expensive. Nico, returning the hug, reciprocated the _hey _in what turns out to be a whisper as her voice was betraying herself. Leaning her head on Maki’s shoulder, Nico closed her eyes. _Because sometimes it’s just nice to dwell in the moment._ Nico felt the warmth from the hug intensified, maybe due to the cold, no intend on breaking her embrace soon. Maybe her entire family was staring at them, but what could Nico do. She just met her close friend for the first time after her accident, it’s only natural… if she omits the small detail of yesterdays visit. But like all nice things, the warmth feeling must have an end. Maki loosened the embrace, her face lingering close to Nico’s ear.

“Give me back my mantle.” Maki whispered in Nico’s ear, glaring at her.

“It’s mine now. I appreciate the gift. Thanks, Maki.” Nico declared, earning herself a mortifying glare from the previous owner. Obviously Nico will give back Maki her precious favorite mantle, but there is such a joy in teasing her. Nico can’t suppress the urge sometimes.

“What’s that?” Cocoa asked, holding up a small bag. Maki rushing towards the bag she dropped close to the door, thanked Cocoa quickly before, stomping towards Nico, holding up the bag in Nico’s face.

“We trade.” Maki says determined, her lips curling up as Nico’s eyes begin glowing after she throws a glance at the content of the bag.

“How did you...” Nico asked, “Is Kotori alive?”

“Alive and joyful.” Maki answered, her smirk transforming to a full-fledged grin.

“But she never...” Nico, stutters, “Do you still have your soul?”

“I might have traded it in for this. So, Merry Christmas, I guess?”

“Thanks, Maki.” Nico chirped, pulling Maki towards her, hugging her junior yet again.

After a short moment of silence and curious glances by Nico’s siblings over Nico’s outbreak, she pulled the Parker out of the bag, smirking at Maki. “You know it’s Christmas time, right? Halloween was way back.”

“I changed my mind, give it back.” Maki pouted, crossing her arms in what seems to be on of her signature moves. Maki having a signature move might be one of Nico’s proudest moments.

“So, you don’t want back you mant...” Nico stopped, looking at the bottom of the bag, seeing yet another piece of clothing. “Soo. What’s this?” Nico asked in surprise.

“I mentioned something about trading in my soul, didn’t I?” Maki muttered, her shoulders dropping.

To Nico’s amusement it wasn’t difficult to pressure Maki into wearing her Halloween outfit as well, Nico swiftly trading Maki’s mantle against her newly obtained Parker. Technically she helped sewing it, so it should be hers anyway, but nonetheless she was thankful to Maki for getting it.

“This is the least appropriate Christmas dress code ever.” Nico said laughing, looking at her siblings all in festive sweaters in contrast to hers and Maki’s outfits. Her mother, confused about the quick change of theme, shrugged and laughed at the absurd situation. One thing was sure for Nico, this isn’t her everyday Christmas, but she sure would make it a tradition to dress in Halloween attire for every following one. Snapping a couple of group photos, Nico became euphoric at printing out a few of them, hanging them to the other photos on her wall. So, that Nico was in hospital had also it’s good and slightly weird sides. Normally, their tradition would be to unravel gifts, one at a time, however this would be delayed until after getting back home as there was no way they would make such a mess here.

The remaining day was rather eventful. Since Christmas Eve is somewhat of a special day, there was a small but appreciateable banquet at the ground floor. Almost exclusively eating home-cooked dinners, Nico felt all rich and mighty, dining with her entire family something made by a well-trained chief. There were a couple of other groups of people sitting, enjoying dinner with family or friends, others were sitting by themselves. Nico also spotted the young girl from before, but she didn’t wanted to bother her as she was in company of what seems to be her parents. Otherwise she would instantly introduce her to Maki. Also they were kinda glanced on by a lot of people, her and Maki still wearing the Halloween outfits. At least they were matching and the outfits are totally cute anyway.

At some time, after Nico got Maki to talk on her own deliberately, her youngest sibling got way too sleepy. It was rather late anyway, so her mother decided that they would drive home for today. This was especially hard-breaking for Cocoro as she was probably the only one enjoying Maki’s exhaustingly long rant on music theory. Nico didn’t realized until halfway through that Maki was actually talking the entire time. She was sort of spacing out for a long time. A heart-warming hug from her mother and an alarmingly loud _Nico-Nico-Nii_ later they left, leaving behind Nico, curiously looked at by a lot of people, and Maki, which wasn’t embarrassed one bit by her outfit to Nico’s irritation.

“So, why the Parker?” Nico asked, tapping her healthy foot in rhythm to the melody she was humming.

“You can give it back, if you don’t like it.”

“No. I totally love it. Thanks, Maki. It just seems kinda… random, you know?”

“You like it right? Then that’s the reason.”

Maki was somewhat going defensive, but still smiling in this soft, cute way. It’s a kind of weird observation, but Nico noticed Maki getting overly soft sometimes, but she normally doesn’t do this in presence of others.

“Mh… If you don’t wanna tell me, then I just wear it to school until you do so.” Nico says, leaning her head on the table, glancing at the cute devil in front of her.

“Have fun getting in trouble with the director.” Maki giggles.

They chat for what feels like an eternity, Nico always finding herself staring too deep into Maki’s eyes whenever she was spacing out, just listening to the words of the other girl. At some point, Nico sat up straight, just realizing the progressed evening not seeing a single person besides them around, Maki realizing the same, both giggling. They completely ignored the world around them for at least two hours.

“So, tomorrow I crash in on your Christmas party?” Nico smiled.

“I doubt they let you out of here.” Maki smirked, frowning as she continues “Also there is this whole extended family visiting thing going on and… Well, some are rather _self-centered_.” Maki drops her head on the table, exhaling annoyed.

“So according to Maki I would fit right in there?”

“Exactly, please distract them.”

“Hey, that’s the moment where you should say how selfless Nico is and how much you wish her to be at your boring party.”

“All right, you are probably tired, you get all delusional again.” Maki bragged, standing up “Are the crutches enough or shall I bring you a wheelchair, Princess Yazawa?”

“You learned from the best.” Nico said sniffing, faking the moment of a proud mother accompanying her child to her graduation, Maki rolling her eyes in response to the way too overly dramatic act.

“Yeah sure. The concussion must had a serious effect on you. Let’s get you to rest. The doctor will check you tomorrow.” Maki responded, satisfied by Nico’s reaction.

In the end Nico was fixating herself on the role of the poor and exhausted girl, forcing Maki to roam around the floors for ten minutes on the quest of getting herself a wheelchair. Maybe Maki should have just lifted the small girl – _How hard could this really be?_ – but she wasn’t really confident in her own strength to begin with. Yet the thought was amusing her, making her grin. Unfortunately some elderly patient was heading around a corner, first thing to witness was a young girl in a Halloween costume pushing a wheelchair, grinning maniacally. Afterwards Maki was at least _slightly_ self-conscious about wearing her outfit. She would take it of as soon as she gets back to Nico’s room. Also she’ll get back her mantle.

After collecting Nico from the lobby, they headed back, Maki pushing her. She noticed that Nico wasn’t just acting her exhaustion as she was hardly kept her eyes open.

Just for a brief moment Maki was slowing down, looking at the grandé sitting in the corner of the forth floor lobby. Noticing the small change in tempo, Nico opened her eyes, also looking at the instrument. Turning her head towards Maki, she asked “Can you play me something? I’ll really love to hear you playing again.”

Maki would love to play, but she also knew that Nico belongs to bed. But again, these small puppy eyes focusing in on her made it difficult to decline. By all means, Maki tried to channel all her power just to voice out a single _No, _but as easy as it may sound, it surely wasn’t for Maki. Torn apart by her inner conflict Maki finally resigned, pulling back the wheelchair, heading for the instrument instead.

“Fine, but just a few minutes. You were basically already dozing.” Maki declared.

“Don’t worry, I’m already a grown adult.”

“Hee, grown?” Maki answered provokative.

“Great, tall jokes, the pinnacle of humor.”

After a brief period of sassy jokes and a bunch of laughter, Maki sat down on the piano bench, folding up the cover, revealing ivory keys comparable to the ones at home. Some time passed since she played her mothers old piano. Maki shifted slightly to the left as Nico placed herself next to her, looking at her expectedly, Maki’s hands hovering over the keys. She wondered what would be good to play in this moment. Also, Nico was kind of close. Not that Maki minded, but she kind of needed her space to maneuver her hands. She began playing the first notes.

“Hey, don’t betray Nico. I know what you are planning.” Nico said. Maki was indeed teasing her senior by playing Brahm’s Lullaby, extending the joke of Nico previously dozing of. Both of them began giggling, Maki turning back to the keys. _What to play, _she wondered. Maybe… No. Or should she try? It’s not finished. Just a thought. But Nico would enjoy it, wouldn’t she? Okay, let’s try.

Maki was exhaling, concentrating herself on the instrument in front of her, trying to blend out the curious girl next to her. Did Maki ever mentioned how hard it is to blend out Nico’s presence? Her senior can never sit still and Maki always feels like she must concentrate on Nico instead. Still, Maki managed to get herself into her own world, a world where she can blend out everything, nothing but music floating around her, the keys the extension of her very thoughts. _3, 2, 1…_ Again, she began playing, this time not because of a joke, not because of Nico’s request, but because she wanted to show, show her feelings, show them to Nico, show her what she really wanted to express to her yesterday. She poured everything into it, reaching new highs of adrenaline after smoothly improvising the transition between the second and third part. On some parts her hands were shaking, but she still managed to perfectly hit every key, calming down after she managed to nail the most difficult parts.

After Maki delivers the final chords, her hands resting above the keys, slowly lifting her foot from the pedal, she immediately turned her head towards Nico, nervosity rising inside her. And Nico was just staring, her shimmering ruby eyes focusing on Maki. Maki’s heart began pounding, but not because she felt all the adrenaline rushing through her body, but because of the small, raven-haired girl, sitting next to her, giving her the most surprised look.

“Maki.” Nico finally responded, “This was… _is…_ You are...” she stops again, still looking Maki directly in the eyes and Maki was also captivated by Nico’s. _There was this feeling again, the same feeling she was experiencing yesterday, the same feeling which made her crazily weird behaving towards Nico. _The same… The same feeling which made her jump out of bed yesterday at 11pm making her compose for at least three hours the very piece she just played.

“You are awesome, Maki.” Nico chirped and Maki could only smile in response, still locked at looking at the other girl. _94%_. This single number began floating around Maki’s head. An awkwardly long period of time passed and both were still sitting at the bench, focusing on each other, Nico shifting closer, flushing embarrassed. Maki didn’t knew what to respond, how to react. She just couldn’t move. An immense power was filling her rib cage, making her unable to move. And Maki felt this weird desire. And when she was shifting her leg slightly, she touched Nico’s just for split second and the same spot began burning up. And her heart was pounding and pounding faster and yet faster and the corners of her vision where fading to black, Nico moving further and further to the center of her focus and Maki was leaning forward and Nico did too. Both of them were still looking at each other. _What is happening__? __No, she can’t._

Finally reaching back the control over her senses, Maki quickly builds up a couple centimeters of distance and turns her head back to the keys, trying to calm down, slowing down her overly fast beating heart. There must be something wrong with her. Maybe she really should talk to her father. Maybe she should ask her mother first. She felt more comfortable with her mother regarding talking about these things. Maybe it is some _girl_ _issue._

“Thanks. I…”, her voice felt way too high-pitched. After clearing her throat she continued. “I recently composed it. I thought you may like it.” She absolutely nailed it. Maki was feeling less and less irritated by the second. Now she just needs to take Nico back to her room and then she’ll think about everything that just happened. She just needs some time. Maki needs to understand why this kept happening to her. Whenever she was alone with Nico, there were these moments. Moments of both of them expecting the other to do something, she didn’t knew what, but there was something going on.

Just as Maki wanted to stand up, helping Nico back into the wheelchair, she felt something clinching to her arm.

“Maki.” Nico whispered. The redhead turned her head, again looking at Nico, glancing at her with her ruby eyes, full of expectation.

“I really don’t think I should play another.” she answered.

“Maki.” Nico whispered again, slightly desperate this time, pulling at Maki’s arm even more, forcing her to shift forward. Maki was losing her balance. In an attempt to stop herself from falling she puts her hand on Nico’s leg, standing in front of the small girl. Again trapped in the same situation as before, just slightly less comfortable, she was eyeing the raven-haired girl curious, Nico now looking sideways, blushing. Just as Maki wanted to say something, Nico turned her face back towards Maki’s and glanced at her full of determination, putting one of her hands on Maki’s shoulder, again closing in on her.

“Maki.” Nico whispered again, closing her eyes, leaning in and finally something in Maki snapped. She felt this rush of euphoria spreading throughout her body, she finally understood, she understood what Nico was feeling and she understood why she was having these weird symptoms, signs of _love. She understood the reason for yesterdays composing mania. _And Maki wouldn’t back of anymore, wouldn’t deny her own emotions.

Her entire body shaking from this expanding feeling of euphoria, she softly leaned her hand against Nico’s soft cheek, resulting in the small girl to open her eyes. Maki was smiling at her and Nico was smiling back.

Both of them closed their eyes, Maki pressing her lips against Nico’s, feeling something she never experienced before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Almost...almost there." -> Are we now? ;)
> 
> Trivia time (yeah) :
> 
> Rinya~ is a combination of Rin~ and Ninja :P
> 
> Also, did I mention that I totally like Hanayo's phone name "Shiro-Kome-Kami" which basically means  
white rice goddess?


	8. Apart

Maki still felt the touch of Nico’s lips pressed against hers, her soft hair brushing against her cheeks, her hands gripping the fabric of her dress. At first, Maki just pressed her lips against Nico’s and there might be some miscommunication resulting in a bump. The second time Maki nailed even this, slightly tilting her head to the right. But by the third time, where she actually sat down proper next to the comparably small girl, eyeing Maki with her sparkling ruby eyes, Maki softly brushed her lips against Nico’s, the sensation overwhelming the young redheaded girl. Maki didn’t remember how long they were just sitting there, but she remembered every little touch, every moment of this seemingly eternal, yet inadequate short time frame.

Maki rolled over to the other side of her bed, opening her chat with Nico yet again, daydreaming about her. She was currently invested in an especially satisfying daydream of herself cuddling with the girl she was thinking about all day so far. They were watching a movie, sitting in the dark, only the light on the screen filling up the cozy cinema. Maki didn’t know what movie they were watching, it was just a convenient background noise anyway. The overly loud laughter of one of her fathers cousins ripped her from her dreams, sweet dreams. It was the time were virtually every living member of her family was gathering for a vivid Christmas party. Maki wasn’t in the mood of joining the party. She would basically just sit there anyway and eavesdrop on random conversations. Sometimes there was the occasional relative praising Maki’s great marks, ranting about her promising future without even knowing the first thing about her, which sums up most of her interactions. Therefore Maki did the only logical thing she could do in a room filled with doctors. She faked a stomach ache to escape back to her room, now rolling around the bed. _She wants to hug Nico __so bad__. _

_S__hould Maki give her a message?_ Maybe she could tell her that she missed her. Actually, she really wants to tell her. Maki just doesn’t know what she shall do. They departed on a rather awkward note. Maybe it had to do with Maki acting all shy and flustered afterwards or with Nico’s lack of communication. The raven-haired girl said absolutely nothing afterwards. Well, they sure did kiss for departure, but none of them said a single word. How should Maki know how to initialize a conversation now. Normally Nico would do so anyway.

Maki rolled to the other side and opened the chat with Nico again. The last message was one from Nico, holding up Maki’s mantle to the camera. It sure is funny, Maki thought. One day she gets annoyed by this message and now…, now she is just staring at it, firmly studying the girls perfect hair, her perfect smile, her perfectly sparkling eyes and her cute twin tails. Yes, even her twin tails were perfect to her. Maki brushed her finger over the small image on her phone, smiling at it. _She was totally done for. _

She never experienced something like this before. When in previous years classmates of hers were talking about dating and crushes, she never joined in on these conversations. There wasn’t really anything to contribute. She wasn’t interested in all these discussions of the other girls. She was never interested in any of the boys in her classes anyway, but now she could care even less, because now she got a _girlfriend._

Girlfriend. It was the first time she actively thought about it. _Is she dating Nico__ now_?

Again, Maki rolled around, grabbing her pillow and holding it close. _Is she dating Nico? _Maybe. There was no real way to tell. _Does she want to?_ Definitely. Would this mean she would eventually marry Nico? _Woah, she was thinking way ahead._ _Like, extremely way ahead._

Maki, frustrated rolling around, suffocating her pillow, was disturbed by a soft knock on the door. A couple of seconds later her mother stuck her head around the door.

“Is everything fine?” she asked, closing the door behind her, slowly walking towards her daughter after lingering around close to the door.

“No. I mean, yes. Everything is fine.” Maki responded, loosening the grip on the pillow. Sitting down next to Maki, her mothers smiled at her.

“Did someone trouble you?” she asked, brushing her fingers through Maki’s hair to the girls comfort. She was responding by humming negatively.

“Anyway, I know how I could lift your mood. A bit?” her mother said, Maki lifting her head to face her mother directly.

“Actually, we could manage to free three days from work for our annual skiing trip.” she announced proud, making the girl smile. She had heard about the issues with her parents workload. Once her mother told her that the trip might fall flat this year, ruining the mood of the young girl. She really enjoyed these short trips as they were the most magical parts to Christmas for her as she got to enjoy the holidays with just her parents. No far relatives. No annoying cousins. No one but them. _But also no Nico._

Her phone was vibrating, a small message from Nico lighting up the screen. _Maki Maki Ma!_ was displayed next to Nico’s icon, her original icon. Apparently she changed it back from Maki’s mantle to her classic _Nico Nico Nii_ pose. Her mother was giggling as she couldn’t help but look at the phone for the split of a second it needed to read the message. Blushing from the embarrassment Maki pushed the device below her pillow.

After padding Maki’s head, her mother excused herself, taking back control over the slightly noise party downstairs, Maki thanking her for the opportunity of the trip. Somehow Maki felt the weird urge to tell her mother about Nico. Her mother knows her friends from talking with Maki and also some videos. Also, she clearly knew the small raven-haired girl. She knew that she was close with Maki, because maybe Maki is sometimes talkative at home and maybe she almost every time ends up talking about Nico. Just maybe. However, there was a new part she hadn’t told anyone. How could she? They were dating for like two days, depending on whether this counts as dating anyway.

Maki pressed her face into the pillow, trying to calm down. It took her a bit of time, but she got there. Maki loved the skiing tour, but especially now she had different things floating around her head. She wanted to see Nico so badly, wanted to hug her so badly, feel her, smell her mesmerizing scent. _Was she always this focused on the other girl? _Maki must admit that she always felt happy in the older girls presence, even euphoric. Well, their arguments don’t count, Maki decided. She was just focusing on the bright moments.

After spacing out once more, Maki recollected that there was actually a message from Nico, waiting for her to respond. Instantly she grabbed her phone and pressed on the message.

**Princess N1kino**: “Hey ;)”

_Was an emoji creepy? She never used emojis. What is happening with her behaviour recently?_

**No.1 Idol:** “Took you long enough.”

**No.1 Idol:** “Were you fantasizing about Nico?”

Maki probably could just drop the conversation and nobody would bat an eye. _But._ At least Nico figured her out. Also, Maki was totally happy to write with Nico. Honestly she would prefer hearing her voice. _Is it okay to dial her number?_ Others could hear them and Maki is not particularly good with real-time conversations. That’s one reason why she lost most arguments to Nico. However, she got better at countering the small girls teasing attacks, making Nico the receiving end mostly. She dialed her number anyway and Nico took the call almost immediately.

**Nico:** “Nico Nico Nii. How is Christmas?”

**Maki:** “Uhm, fine. I guess.”

Maki discovered that she was twirling her hair without noticing before. She had no idea what to talk about but just the sound of Nico’s voice, just the feeling that she is in some sense connected to her right now makes her happy. Maki felt weird catching herself to wish upon the first school week just to get an excuse to see her. After an expanding period of neither of them saying anything, Nico coughed.

**Nico:** “So, were you?”

**Maki:** “What?”

**Nico:** “Because I did.”

Maki was feeling left out. Did she space out again? Did she missed something? What was Nico saying before? After a time frame long enough to make Nico sight loudly, she realized Nico was talking about the text message from before. _Were you fantasizing about Nico. _Of course she did. But saying so is embarrassing, but Maki took all the courage she accumulated over the past… few seconds? She already drained everything when she called the other girl.

**Maki:** “I miss you.”

_She said it._ Maki’s heart was racing uncontrollable, some weird feeling filled her guts and she became nervous. There was no response from Nico. She heard bed sheets rubbing against each other, Nico shifting around, but she wasn’t responding yet. _Did she say something weird? Is she being weird? Did she misinterpret the whole thing?_

**Nico:** “I… Maki.”

She became even more nervous. She already felt the complains of her hairdresser about her constant urge to twirl her hair.

**Nico:** “Right. I’ll be allowed to go home tomorrow. I want to talk to you.”

**Maki:** “Yes. I also want that… talking… with you, I mean.”

**Nico:** “Great.”

**Maki:** “But... I’m not home for the next few days. My parents have… and I… We have… We do. Skiing Trip.”

Maki’s head was spinning. _Something felt wrong, terrible wrong._ Isn’t this the time when Nico is supposed to say _I miss you too_ or at least something along these lines? Also what is up with this serious _I want to talk to you._ Didn’t Nico want this?

**Nico:** “Okay.”

Nico sounded slightly disappointed. _Maybe she just wanted to see her? Maybe Maki is interpreting too much?_

**Nico:** “Can we meet when you are back? I want to… tell you something.”

Whatever Nico was trying to say, it seems to be something she can’t tell over the phone. Still, Maki wanted to it know so badly. _Good news? Bad news? Couldn’t she just tell her anyway? _

**Nico:** “Oh. I guess the doctor is here to give me a lecture because I stayed up late on Christmas Eve.”

**Nico:** “The nurse was worried when I wasn’t in my room back then. Guess I’ll see you then? Ah. And send me some skiing videos. I want to see Maki rolling down the hill.”

**Maki:** “Uhm. Yeah, sure.”

**Nico:** “Also, some staff saw us. Bye.”

Nico disconnected the call. _What? _Maki’s face was turning as red as never before.

Over the following days, Maki enjoyed herself with her parents. She lost none of the experience she collected last time they went for skiing. To be fair, she was somewhat shaky in the first few moments, but her body remembered the movements semi-automatically. Her knees were responding accordingly to the snow, her movements were as swift as last year, when she attempted to ski down the entire mountain without any break; on her own! Her father was energetic to try out using a snowboard instead. Maki and her mother had a good time seeing the family father and prestigious doctor struggle this bad with handling the new experience. First they drove a small track, Maki and her mother finishing it first. Just as Maki was searching the crowd of people queueing for the lift, she began laughing as she finally found her father, sitting in the snow, slowly sliding down the track. Everything was going as planned and Maki had a generally good time. Just as she was taking a photo of all three of them, her father fully covered in snow, she remembered her conversation with Nico. _She wanted to tell her something important, something she couldn’t tell her over phone. _Afterwards Maki felt slightly bumped, once again feeling this odd pressure similar to fear. After racing down the next track in a completely straight line, Maki sighted, leaning against the metal fence splitting the track from a steep ledge, Maki looking down the thirty meter deep fall. Her parents were still busy with the track, her mother staying close to her father still trying to figure out the snowboard. She should just focus on the trip for now and shift her worries to a different time. She told herself multiple times. It was the logical way to handle things. She just couldn’t really keep in line with her brain recently. Whenever she thinks _Let’s do A _her heart will just go _B? You wanna do B?_ Maki didn’t sign up for this roller coaster of emotions.

_Okay, let’s analyze. What would she do if her fears would come true?_ _Basically what if Nico wouldn’t want to be with her? _Just the thought made her feel sick, making her actively focus on breathing in the fresh cold air in order to resolve the nausea. What should she do? Well, talking to Nico would help definitively, but here is the thing, she can’t. Technically she could call her or write her, but Nico wouldn’t tell her while being apart anyway. At least according to Maki’s impression of the situation. Why was it so hard to be apart for just a couple of days? Maki endured almost sixteen years without the annoyingly cute super idol and now just a couple of days were too much?

Maki squeaked at the touch of snow to her cheek. Spacing out, Maki didn’t noticed her parents to arrive at the lift. Neither did she notice her mother closing in on her, currently rubbing a handful of snow on her cheek.

“Ready to go for the big one?” her mother asked, smiling enthusiastically. Her mother loved the long, difficult tracks. When she was at home she often seemed so soft and delicate, but she was a total sports enthusiast and nothing could stop her as soon as she revived her spirit.

“Sure. But this time I’ll beat you.” Maki answered, giving her mother a challenging smirk, dropping all her worries as she does so.

“Let’s see.”

The three of them were heading for the lift now, Maki and her mother being hyped about the highlight of the day, her father trailing behind them, gulping at the trouble he got himself into. He finally got the grip with the snowboard, but he couldn’t even keep up with the other two while skiing. The additional handicap was making him visible worried, amusing the two girls.

A fun challenge was up ahead and Maki would ignore all else for now. She could send Nico a few nice pictures and maybe one or two messages later on, but now she would get her out of her system. Nico can wait for later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's end the year with moody Maki.
> 
> Wish you all a great new start to 2020 ;)


	9. Shrine Maiden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for enduring the long break...  
I was very undecisive :D
> 
> I hope you enjoy it ;)

The days passed surprisingly fast in contrast to Maki’s initial expression. She had lots of fun, discovering yet again her love for racing down the various amount of tracks with thin blades. The speed, the wind, the cold snow splashing against her face and the ease she felt controlling the ski’s made her feel a rush she could otherwise only achieve when her fingers were dancing on sparkling ivory keys. Additionally, in contrast to her joy of playing the piano, she could enjoy sharing this activity with her mother. While Maki inherited her love for the piano from her mother, skiing together was something they could do together. To be fair, Maki enjoyed playing the piano a lot more when someone was by her side. _Nico._ Again, she thought about the troublesome girl just as she was sure to be able to rest her worries for a few days.

Nervously the red haired girl was pulling out her phone in hope of a new message from a certain someone. There were a few messages in the µ’s group chat but Maki decided to mute it almost immediately after it’s creation. A wise choice as it turned out.

Still slightly wet from the shower Maki brushed her hair to the side, shifting to a different position, pressing her pillow against her chest. She was still thinking about the call with Nico, reinterpreting every sentence multiple times, alternating between affirming and demolishing explanations. If she’d be honest, she already played with the thought of just turning up at Nico’s door so she could finally have a clear picture. On the other side, Maki wouldn’t really like to see her fears manifest in front of her. Everything was better than the soul-crushing words she imagined the small, twin-tailed girl saying as she would stand in the entry of her apartment, mantled by the most hideous cute pyjama imaginable. The hurtful truth, Maki would still adore her to the maximum, still love her unconditionally, still hope to be able to hold the smaller girl in her arms. _When did she became this affectionate?_

As the young girl expected, she wasn’t able to rest this night, her thoughts still plagued. At some point she even wandered around the house, moving in circles around the living room as if possessed by a ghost. While the moment she and Nico agreed to meet was closing in, Maki couldn’t feel the time passing, the moment coming closer. _Just 15 hours, _she thought after glimpsing to the wooden clock. It was almost 1am.

There was this paradox where Maki was always unable to sleep when she was getting the impression of it being absolutely necessary to do so. She could lay in bed, open her eyes and think _Yes, today I won’t be able to sleep_ and it will happen just like this despite of all her efforts to relax. The psyche was a cruel thing.

To the young girls blessing her exhaustion was kicking in around the 3am mark and she dropped into a deep sleep even her alarm wasn’t able to disturb. Finally, after 30 minutes of aggressively loud music coming from her phone, Maki, just becoming aware of her own existence, felt terrible from the short, displaced sleep she managed to achieve. It was an act of pure willpower to actually roll out of bed, an even greater one to get herself down the stairs. In retrospective she wasn’t even sure whether she was walking, crawling or rolling down the massive staircase. It’s not like she was running late because it was somewhat early, but after giving herself a look in the mirror she was imagining that getting herself presentable by the time she is supposed to leave was an entirely different challenge. So Maki did the only reasonable thing and made herself one of these super bitter coffees. Due to her lack of understanding the way a coffee machine is functioning this turned out to be quite complicated. Just after around five minutes she discovered the container filled with lukewarm coffee at the small table in the corner of the dinning hall. The remaining coffee was barely enough to fill a single cup to the half, but she could either take this or nothing. Maki couldn’t really adapt to the taste of the odd drink, but at least it was something making her mornings endurable. Armed with just a cup of coffee and way too much anxiety she stormed off to her room, preparing herself for the afternoon.

There was this odd atmosphere surrounding the young girl while she was walking to the spot Nico sent her the location to. While the rays of light were warming her skin, the wind pressing through the streets was cooling her down. A mix of warmth and coldness touched her body, making her shiver uncontrollable. Just now Maki felt the regret for not grabbing something warmer. The red dress she chose after going through her entire wardrobe twice, wasn’t giving her enough warmth. The weather forecasters claiming for sunny weather was true nonetheless, but Maki should have paid more attention to the temperature displayed next to the shining sun for the Chiyoda ward, a somewhat weird location since neither Nico nor Maki were living close to it. _Maybe Nico did chose the place especially since none of them including µ’s is living close by?_

Moving through the streets covered by a mix of melting snow and mud the previously found state of relaxation began wavering, but Maki had not time to calm down. Looking up from the ground for a short time made her spot a bundle of twin tails attached to a small girl, sitting close by at a bench, concentrating herself on her phone. As Maki spotted the pair of crutches leaning against the bench she wondered about the oddness of Nico dragging Maki out here as it was certainly a huge struggle for her senior to even get to this place. Just as Maki wanted to make herself noticeable her phone began notifying her about an incoming message by sounding a poorly recorded _Nico-Nico Nii, _leading to her senior to instantly turn around her head, now focusing on Maki, giving her this weird smile.

“Uhm. Hey.” Maki responded, awkwardly raising her hand.

“Maki!” the other girl responded euphoric, almost jumping up before noticing her need for using the crutches to do so.

Maki really had no idea what kind of pace they were going with at the moment, thus she just waited for Nico’s lead. In the end they were going for a hug, one of these were Maki wanted to hug the other girl deeply but wasn’t sure how long and how close she was allowed to be. Slowly releasing herself from the hug, the younger girl smiled at Maki, making her desire to kiss Nico unmeasurable.

“Wanna go? I think someone is still owning me a parfait.” Nico said, Maki looking at her perplex. _Parfait? _Right, they had planned to get something sweet, but Maki was forced to cancel because of her visit at the hospital with her dad. Weird, how everything turned out just from there.

“Bwuah. I never said, I’d pay for yours.” Maki responded as Nico began pulling on her arm with immense power, balancing herself with just one of the crutches. Despite the impairment of the younger girl, she sure was surprisingly energetic and mobile, Maki thought. The immense positive energy emitted by the smaller girl was immediately infecting Maki as she began following her towards a small newly opened shop on the corner of the street.

It took some time to settle for a table. This was neither due to the fact that the shop was crowded, nor that there was a wet spot Nico carefully needed to get around. Rather the smaller girl couldn’t decide between the window seated table decorated with flowers or the one directly next to the small fish tank. Maki wouldn’t mind either way, but for some reason she was joining in on Nico’s analytic evaluation of the _better _seat. In the end they opted for the window seat, giving Maki the fortune of feeling the sun pressing against her skin, making her feel warm in a completely positive way as there was no cold wind going along with it.

“I didn’t knew you could ski.” Nico ripped Maki back from her daydream. Previously staring out of the window, occasionally following the movement of randomly selected people, she turned her head towards the raven-haired girl, looking at Maki with this weirdly grinny face.

“Mh. I guess. It’s a tradition of our family, at some point I supposed I got the drill.” Maki answered, stirring the straw in her chocolate drink.

“Interesting.” Nico answered, taking a sip out of her strawberry drink, afterwards echoing the same word again.

“Nico also wants to try this sometimes. Maybe snowboarding instead? Wouldn’t Nico look totally cool?” she chirped, frowning as Maki began giggling. “What?” she asked in a slightly offended tone.

“It’s just...” Maki began, trying to calm down after bursting out in laughter, “My father thought the exact same thing this year. Didn’t turned out to be the wisest decision.” Maki couldn’t hold it anymore, trying to imagine a cool looking Nico rolling down the track the same way her father did just a few days before. Just shortly after Nico was infected by Maki’s laughter.

“I’m sure you can teach me.” Nico continued, moving her drink to the side as she spotted a waiter walking towards them with two delicious looking parfaits. While Maki has chosen one with chocolate, strawberries, vanilla crème and white chocolate on top, Nico’s was a combination of everything pink. _Maybe Maki should later research whether there is way to make valentine chocolate pink. _At the realization of the implications of her thought her head turned as red as the strawberries in the glass in front of her. Assumably Maki felt the blush just internally as Nico wasn’t reacting in any way.

After a while of both tasting out their parfaits and the ritual exchange of testing the other ones, Maki broke the silence.

“Maybe you can join in on next years skiing trip.”

“And break your ritual family thingy?” Nico answered, taking a big sip out of her drink, eyes still focused on Maki. _You could become a part of my family. Wow, Maki, way too early. _Maki didn’t even know how this day would turn out. When were they talking about last time? Did Nico already forget? Is she acting this casual because she just wants everything to be as before? Maki’s mood dropped by a bunch and she felt guilty for not being able to enjoy this time with Nico anymore. There wasn’t a smart answer Maki could give, thus she just didn’t.

For the rest of their visit Maki wasn’t really talkative but giving Nico’s enthusiasm it went unnoticed. She just had to occasionally respond and hum in agreement the other ninety percent of the time. While Maki wasn’t able to follow Nico’s stories most of the time, she still felt mesmerized by her cute movements, vividly moving her whole body in anticipation of her telling. Her cheerful eyes jumping around, sometimes focusing on Maki, paired with this sweet, sweet smile. Her silky twin-tails, reflecting the light just perfect to highlight her features. Her cheeks, heating up in happiness. Her lips, teasingly wandering around, a point of focus for Maki. _Is this really something she can’t have, can’t chase without losing her forever?_ _Will Nico push her away if she would try to show her feelings once more? Is all this here a last resort from Nico to back-paddle to a friendship before… before all this?_

“Maki? Hello? Are you dozing off again? Is there no sleep where you come from?” Nico leaned in, waving her hands in front of Maki’s eyes, finally achieving to get back her attention.

“Sorry, I...” Maki answered, holding back the yawn as she was hit with fatigue from all the stress she gave herself over the day.

“Well. Maki should sleep more. At first I thought it was make-up but you actually got quite some eye bags, don’t you?” Nico smiled.

Giving up on searching for an answer, Maki just hummed in agreement. Not long after they left the shop, Maki paying for both of their parfaits and drinks, they were greeted by the red light of the incoming sunset. _Did time really pass this fast?_ A big digital clock decorated the middle of the plaza, _17:53._

“Nico.” she began, already planning on how to proceed, but the raven-haired girl was faster.

“Hey, do you wanna walk a bit? I know a nice place.” Nico smiled at Maki, seemingly ignoring that the pianist wanted to say something herself. Maki looked down to Nico’s legs. She can’t possible take long walks in this condition. How did she even got herself here? She barely had a week or so of rest. However, Maki already knew one thing from her wild rollercoaster ride of getting to be a part of the life of the small vivid girl. There was no way to predict her actions.

“Fine, but be careful.” Maki answered defeated whilst positioning herself between Nico and the street, stepping close enough to catch her in the event of a misstep. _When was the time she should confront her? Would this time even come if Maki stays like this?_

The walk was a bit of an awkward one. Neither of them said anything, not even the tiniest bit. Maki was walking next to Nico, occasionally eyeing the clumsy movement pattern she had developed while using the crutches. Constantly she was trying to come up with a reason for them to talk, interact. Constantly she tried to think of giving herself some reason to ask about last time, the soft yet passionate kiss, the smile and warmth she felt the other girl emitting.

_Hey Nico, do you like me? _

_Sure, you are my best friend._

Maki sighed from the helpless scenario she was caught in, earning herself the curiosity of a certain limping someone. “Come with me.” Nico said, turning into the small playground next to them, a few benches, a swing and this one children’s castle one sees in literally every picture of a playground decorated the small place. Fighting with herself on joining a seventeen year old girl at the swings, she finally marched towards the free swing next to the one Nico took place at. With her healthy leg the older girl accelerated and began swinging. “Why don’t you try it to?” she almost yelled, the wind pushing against Maki’s face as Nico swung next to her. It would be somewhat weird to see two high school girls on a playground. On the other side, the sun already settled, only a few lanterns illuminating the streets, not a single soul being close by, but Maki didn’t want to just follow the lead of the other girl.

“Nico.” she said in worried tone, waiting for a continuation until the other girl stopped herself from swinging, “Can we talk?”

“I’m always here to listen to you.” Nico responded, again giving Maki this cheerful smile, but Maki couldn’t recognize whether it was the nice, wholesome and genuine smile or just a part of Nico’s act. The fact that Maki didn’t know anymore made her feel this stabbing pain of sadness. _Does she even know the other girl?, _she wondered, looking down towards the sandy floor. _What was the point anymore? _Maki felt as if nothing was mattering anymore.

_Nico, I love you._

_Maki-chan! I love you too._

This conversation seemed to surreal for the young redhead. Is there even a reason for trying if she knew it wouldn’t be the response she would get? If she’d just play along at least she would stay close to her. _Close to the person she loves, never able to show her._ A cruel destiny, Maki thought, but one she would chose over losing her entirely.

A decent amount of time passed but Nico made no move of saying anything, dedicated on waiting for Maki to say something.

“I’m sorry, Nico. I shouldn’t...” Maki stuttered, unable to finish her sentence, feeling the tears getting closer and closer. She tried to hold them back, but the strong feelings bottling up inside her were overwhelming. Unable to prepare herself the first tears were already watering her eyes. “I shouldn’t...” she repeated, her voice becoming whiny, whispery, her vision blurring, Nico’s silhouette in front of her. It’s not dark yet, Maki just isn’t able to process the details between her blurry vision and her emotional irritation. _It’s all coming together. She just couldn’t bottle up more and more of her emotions without showing them._

“Hey, Maki. Everything is fine.” Nico tried calming her down, irritated by the sudden mood, grabbing the younger girls hand, stroking it softly, “Calm down and then say what’s bothering you. Slowly. Okay?”

“I… I...” Maki began, stopping herself after Nico reminded her once more to calm down. Stopping herself from panicking the younger girl took a deep, yet shaky breath and it felt so relaxing. Once more. And again. She felt like a huge weight dropping from her shoulders, still the stinging pain in her chest was making her pump even more blood through her body.

“I’m sorry.” she said once more, her heart accelerating even further.

“For what?” Nico asked empathetic, now holding Maki’s hand with both of hers, rhythmically brushing the her hands.

“For… You know.” Maki responded, still sobbing, yet slightly calming down due to the mantle of warmth she felt suddenly surrounding her. _Nico was really an ang__el_, _just her caring aura __alone was __giving Maki the feeling of being safe._

“Hey.” Nico said, waiting to continue until Maki lifted her head, ”Tell me what you mean. Ok?” Forced to look at the older girls face, Maki felt a rush of anxiety hitting her yet again.

“You will hate me.”

“There is no way I ever hate you, Maki.” Nico said calmly, strengthen her grip on Maki’s hands, looking the redheaded sobbing mass directly in her eyes “because I love you.”

Maki was almost frozen as these words where hitting her. _Nico loves her? Did she mishear? _Her head was spinning, her vision was getting blurry, but still she wasn’t able to move. She wasn’t sobbing anymore, but the tears were still running down her face, the trail feeling like a frozen lake.

There was a painful time of silence, where they just stared at each other, Nico expressing an immense determination, tightening her grab on Maki’s hands.

“Hey” Nico said, while once more brushing her thumbs over Maki’s hands “Don’t make me look stupid here and say something.” Just staring down Maki with determination, the small girl was now softly eyeing her, expectingly waiting.

“But I thought… you…”

_Okay Maki, calm down. Breath in, breath out._

“I thought… when you said you need to talk to me…”

“Yeah.” Nico said, embarrassed looking to the ground, “I wasn’t sure. We never really talked about it and… I thought you maybe don’t wanna… Maybe you got just carried away… And I had feared that you don’t want to be with me and then I wanted to meet but you seemed so distant and I wasn’t sure and then...” The small girl stopped as Maki began laughing, giving an odd picture as her face was still a mess from her breakdown, Nico staring at her in disbelieve, somewhat offended.

“I thought the exact same!” Maki answered, “I feared that you didn’t want to and then it felt as if you want to reverse everything.”

“We are clearly a bunch of idiots, ain’t we?” Nico declared, Maki humming in agreement, both giggling.

_Was this really it?_ _Some stupid misinterpretation of Nico’s behavior made her this nervous all the days? _If she just said anything, anything at all before she left Nico last time, then everything would have been sorted. Then there would be no reason to worry that much. Maki felt so stupid. _Maki is so stupid. _Why did she worry again? She didn’t know anymore and suddenly she also didn’t care.

Overwhelmed by her emotions, Maki grabbed Nico and carefully pulled her in for a soft kiss and the other girl immediately threw her hands around Maki’s back, strengthening her embrace after Maki passionately pressed her lips against Nico’s, a small whimpering sound escaping the lungs of the small girl, warmly pressing against Maki’s face, making her shiver. There is no way Maki would ever let lose of her. _Never ever._

It took a few moments for the two to coordinate, especially with the chains of the swing in the way. It was somewhat messy, but neither of them minded. The winter night was somewhat cold yet the heat the other girl was emitting made it endurable for the young pianist.

Just as Maki wanted to reach for another kiss, she noticed that Nico froze. Maki slightly tilted her head to the right, but Nico was apparently spacing out.

“Hey, everything okay?” Maki asked, hugging Nico firmly, giving her another kiss on the neck.

“Nozomi.” Nico whispered, Maki turning slowly, facing the purple-haired girl, dressed in her shrine uniform. The girl was hovering close by, smiling and waving at Maki.

“Good evening, you two.” Nozomi greeted them cheerfully. The two girls were only able to quietly respond with a _Hey._

“Right, she works at a shrine somewhere in this area.” Nico mumbled in such a way that only Maki could hear.

As the uniformed girl was closing in, the two girls removed themself from each other, sitting on the swings like two dogs waiting for punishment.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Nico asked, trying for a overly friendly nico-ish cheer, her poor performance not just making Nozomi but also Maki giggle.

“I was just walking towards the Shrine, I think you should know this. It’s a better question what you two are doing here.” Nozomi answered, smirking as she was suggestively eyeing between the two, instantly giving Maki a feeling of shame.

But Maki didn’t want to feel ashamed, so once more she did what felt right in her view and demonstratively began holding Nico’s hand. While she was able to achieve this, she still couldn’t bring herself to looking any of the other girls into the eyes and stared at the ground. Not just surprising Nozomi but also Nico, both of them were looking at each other, Nico not sure how to react and Nozomi giving her the most infuriating smirk Nico has witnessed so far.

“So, do you girls want to come to the shrine with me for a bit?” Nozomi suggested after enjoying the awkward movement of the other two girls. Nico immediately responded with _No thanks_, but that wasn’t enough as Nozomi somehow still got them to go along, Maki not saying a single word, but still staying close to Nico, still holding hands. This was especially troublesome for the raven-haired girl as she was still trying to manage to walk without pain, but Maki wasn’t aware of the struggle.

It was weird. Nozomi made them come to the shrine, instructed them to do some weird ritual they could bet wasn’t performed normally at any shrine and as fast as she firstly appeared in front of them she disappeared somewhere between the shrine’s buildings.

Just as the purple-haired girl was gone, the two girls looked at each other confused, soon both bursting out in laughter over the strange events of the day.

“Hey Maki.” Nico said, seemingly embarrassed “Uhm, I think I may not be able to walk home alone. I’m kinda exhausted. Uhm… do you maybe wanna come over?”

The red-haired girl was just grabbing Nico’s hand in response, looking down her legs once more, before she felt a small hand pulling at her shoulder, forcing her to look back at the other girl, pulling her in for a kiss. _I love you, _she heard as Nico was whispering these words into the kiss.

_I love you too._


	10. Good morning

Slowly Maki was waking up from the mix of sunlight, uncomfortable heat and all the messy events of the previous day, not a physical but mental exhaustion caused by the eventful previous day hovering it’s weight above the sleeping girl. In retrospective she would just claim not being able to come out of bed for either of two reasons. Firstly, she can’t stand waking up early, yet this excuse wasn’t helping her as it must be way past this time already given the warmth. Secondly, she was still in holiday mode, which was true, but at some point the young pianist lost track of time and embarrassingly she wouldn’t even know whether the first day of school would already be the current day. There probably were still two to three days left until this scenario occurs, but it’s not unlikely.

Urged to shift her position as a ray of light found it’s way to her face, Maki suddenly felt something warm and small pressing against her side. Surprised, she opened her eyes, grumbling at the bright light blinding her. Her eyes widened as she found herself surrounded by pink walls. She almost made a squeaking sound as it dawned on her. _She was at Nico’s place,_ she observed as she slowly remembered the last few events of the previous day. She was essentially helping the impaired girl to come back home, because despite her the amazing walking performance, Nico was still not fit enough to take this journey. At first, Maki was surprised by her agility, but soon she understood how much Nico was trying to act the part. In the end they took almost an entire hour for the rather short way from the train station to Nico’s home. Afterwards, Nico made her stay.

Shifting her head a bit, she found a bundle of black hair tickling her face, her senior firmly pressing herself against Maki’s side, apparently still asleep. Again, Maki made an effort to stop herself from making an alarmingly loud sound, her face turning additionally red in relation to the force she used up to suppress herself from shrieking.

_What should she do?_

Just yesterday she confessed to the older girl, that she loved her. _Wait, that’s not right, Nico confessed first._ Still, they are dating now. Well, they never said _We are now officially dating_ to each other, but Maki wouldn’t doubt that they are falling under this category now. She was sure, that Nozomi did knew by now. _Will she tell the others?_ _Should they tell them in school? _All of this was new to Maki, especially since she wasn’t just dating a girl, but also Nico. It would be a different story if she would be with anyone else at all, but they were talking about _Nico. _The girl is always clashing with, the girl responsible for most of her trouble. _Wouldn’t the others find it weird?_ As soon as they are officially presenting themselves to the others, Nozomi won’t stop embarrassing her. At least Nico is used to this. On the other side, Nico has little to no patience, thus this can be troublesome on it’s own. There were definitively a few interesting weeks ahead of Maki not counting in how she and Nico will figure out things between them.

The redheaded girl was ripped out of her thoughts by the motion of the sheets, Nico finally awakening from her slumber, opening her eyes, half asleep gazing at Maki. A few seconds they stayed in this position until Nico fully opened her eyes, smiling at the other girl in this sweet, sweet way. _Good morning, _ she said almost squeaky, Maki responding with the same words, brushing her hand over Nico’s check, the other girl grabbing her hand and holding it against it. This was the moment Maki’s heart started racing again. Her heart wasn’t racing because of some drama or feelings of fear, but because she found cheer happiness, she found herself in a moment she wished would never end and she found herself with someone she knew she would never ever stop looking at. _Obviously she would need to look somewhere besides Nico sometimes, but she didn’t mean it literally._

Slowly Maki moved her head towards Nico, eyeing the girl’s reaction carefully and as Nico closed her eyes, Maki was sure and she fully went for the kiss. They have kissed before. A bunch actually. Twice, if she would only count the occasions. Anyway, this feeling, this experience felt completely different. Less awkward, less insecure, more certain. It felt just right.

Maki was just about to throw her hands around Nico’s back as a knocking on the door stopped the moment and apparently also Nico’s heart as she wasn’t moving the slightest

“Nico, breakfast is ready.” the voice of her mother informed them from outside the door.

“I’m coming.” Nico answered after she finally escaped the paralyze-like state she entered seconds before, Maki eyeing her senior curiously.

“I may have forgot to tell my mother that you are here.” Nico muttered, giggling as she noticed Maki’s bed hair while Maki herself was getting seemingly embarrassed as she combined what the implications of leaving this room probably meant for her.

Unexpectedly Nico jumped out of the bed even she would admit to be way too small for two persons and began to make herself presentable, starting off with combing her hair, Maki still laying in bed, following Nico’s movement like hypnotized. _Her hair really looks amazing when she lets it down, _Maki observed, suddenly feeling the urge to spread out her limbs, feeling slightly chilly as the wind entering through the newly opened window was touching her skin. After a bit of stretching and yawning Maki finally found the energy to lift herself up, getting greeted once more by Nico who ordered her around to a small pink stool in front of a mirror. Maki wanted to complain but wasn’t yet able to do so as she was again sleepy after lying down a second time. Sitting down on the unexpectedly soft stool, Maki was staring into the mirror, confronted to stare at herself just so shortly after waking up. _Are the others also looking like such a mess in the morning? __At least Nico wasn’t, she was looking like a natural beauty just after waking up_, Maki thought, _if she doesn’t wear this weird cucumber mask she once did._ Just as Maki was diving deeper into her thoughts of cucumber mask Nico and why she hasn’t seen her like this on her sleepovers, Nico was finishing up her _Fix Maki’s Face _service procedure.

“All set and done. You may want to change clothes though.” Nico said smiling, proud of her work, Maki still staring mindless into the mirror.

“I haven’t particularly expected this, so I haven’t brought a spare. Also, No. Your clothes are too small.” Maki answered, scanning the room for her belongings.

“Fine, get up. I think I still have some of your stuff.” Nico said while moving towards one of her drawers.

“Why do you have clothes of me?” Maki answered, suddenly confused, getting a sigh in response.

“You know” Nico said while she was going through her drawers, scanning them for Maki’s clothes, moving around until she went to the big closet on the side “you are really careless with your stuff and most of the times you just let it stay behind. On our training camp you once forgot to bring this white jacket of yours back to home and then you complained a week long that you couldn’t find it. So, I randomly started picking up your stuff when you left it behind on concerts. But you never complained about it, so I forgot to give them back to you. Yeah… that’s about it, I guess.”

“Uhm… thanks.” Maki answered in a mix of shyness and embarrassment, “Sorry for that.”

“It’s fine, at least you got some options now thanks to… me and you?” Nico giggled, “Look, I even got one with a red star on the side. You have multiple ones of this?”

“Yes, I like it.” Maki grabbed the shirt out of Nico’s hands, blushing after she saw like four outfits of hers hanging in this closet, “I want them all back.”

“I thought you never asked. They are yours.” Nico chirped, turning around as Maki began changing clothes

“You know, you don’t have to stare into the wall when I’m changing clothes, you didn’t do so before practice neither.” Maki stated as she turned around after putting on her favorite training shirt.

“That’s different.” Nico defended herself, still looking away, Maki slowly taking steps towards her.

“Different how?” Maki asked.

“Uhm… like” Nico stuttered, hitting an especially high note after she felt Maki’s arms, pulling her into a warm embrace from behind.

“Different how?” Maki asked again, this time whispering into Nico’s ear, making the other girl shiver. Maki felt great, hugging her girlfriend, even greater then last time. There was less icy weather and less thick clothes, so the warmth the other girls body was emitting was directly hitting her.

“You are mean.” Nico murmured.

“Why?” Maki asked, pulling Nico closer into her embrace, resting her head next to the other girls.

“I can’t see you this way.” the smaller girl said, blushing as she did so, resulting in Maki’s heart to begin pounding uncontrollable. Without saying anything Maki softened her grip just enough for Nico to turn around, looking expectingly into Maki’s eyes. And Maki was fixated on these glowing, ruby eyes, the desire, the wishes they were spilling out, signaling to Maki every little desire of the small girl. Again, Maki felt this magic moment where the world stopped existing and everything of importance was directly in front of her, some magical power stopping time around them, pulling them closer and closer to each other, no way of escaping, no way to change the things that are about to happen.

Just as Maki closet her eyes and pressed her lips against the lips of the steaming hot girl in front of her, the door behind her opened...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A small one for now ;)


	11. Sweet Moments

If someone would ask Maki she would say that the last few days were exponentially more stressful then the entirety of µ’s lifetime until then.

_Why so?_

Firstly, Nico... That’s it. Nico was the root of all her stress, good stress in some sense as Maki would never trade the last few days against any achievement she could imagine, ignoring the fact that she may be able to success every goal she or others would set for her if she just tried enough anyway.

Finally, Maki felt a sort of happiness she hasn’t experienced before, wasn’t aware such a thing even existed, yet she was in this place, holding her tight, her lips connected to hers, this softness, this desire to stay in this position and all these tingling feelings rushing up and down her body.

Would Maki trade everything for this moment to hold for all eternity?

Yes. Just. Somehow her heart stopped the moment a voice reached her from the door behind her, not hearing the sound of wood while she was busy focusing on the raven haired girl.

_Nozomi?_ Way worse. The moment the redheaded girl turned, Nico already awkwardly moved sideways, Nico’s mother standing in the door frame, Cocoa and Cocoro hovering  close  behind her,  eyes sparkling, smiling widely.  Neither of them had heard the knocking nor the door opening, how should they, caught up in the moment. “ Breakfast is ready?” Nico’s mother  stated ,  yet it sounded more like a question, taken aback by the surprising scenery she walked into. “I suppose we need another plate then.”  she added, quickly turning around to most likely adjust the cutlery.

“When did...” the older sister started, getting interrupted as Nico’s mother closed the door, leaving a heavily embarrassed Maki behind. If this would be a blushing competition, they would settle for a tie... if it weren’t for Maki’s natural red hair giving her a slight advantage over Nico yet the contrast of the smaller girls hair could lead to a victory as well.

“Soo. You think they know?” Nico deadpans, changing into a confused, yet worried facial expression after Maki started bursting out in laughter. Maki wasn’t insane. This situation was just so weird. Firstly she was carefree, then she felt like sinking through the floor… _Maybe there was this slim possibility of getting striked by a thunderbolt… _and then Nico’s mother just went back to get another plate? Maki’s dad would probably react in a completely different way. _Would he even accept her dating another girl?_ _Would he even accept her dating anyone?_

“Noo. Should we ask? Maybe they come back, if I...” Maki said, hugging Nico once more.

“T-this is no time for jokes.” Nico answered, turning her head to the side, “Why are you so calm… about this?”

“I’m not calm, Nico. I feel the same as you.” Maki said, giving Nico a tiny push resulting in her to look back into Maki’s eyes, ”I suppose I just can’t handle this well.” Maki noticed all her insecurities and fears washing away. Maybe she reached a level of stress which allowed her to act calm in the situation? This would mean her heart will randomly start racing as soon as she actually would feel relieved?

“Idiot.” Nico responded, just before pulling Maki in for yet another kiss, a calm one.

“Should we wait for them to come back?” Maki asked, Nico once again answering with _Idiot, _leading into yet another kiss before they decided to join the others for breakfast… just after a few more kisses.

Maki wasn’t new to Nico’s place, she knew the small kotatsu sitting in the middle of the families _living room_, next to the kitchen isle, yet she hasn’t thought that there would be this little space when six people were gathering around it. They sat down for approximately five seconds before Cocoro asked Nico how long they were already dating, Cocoa asked if the kiss would mean that Nico was pregnant and Cotaro wanted a piano, Maki almost spilling her juice as she heard Cocoa’s question. It was years too early to discuss anything like this with Nico, yet Maki felt somehow obsessed with the question, silently thinking about it while blending out her environment. She heard before about the possibility of two girls sharing a genetic offspring, yet she never felt as if this was of any kind of importance. However, now it was one of the most interesting scientific questions she could ask herself. Giving herself a quick mental note to research the issue further she shifted back to reality, feeling the warm touch of Nico’s shoulder against hers. Curiously looking up, Maki was now the center of all attention, everyone staring at her expectingly. _Was it some serious question? _Maki would look bad in front of Nico’s family if she wouldn’t be able to give an answer because this would mean she didn’t care. But Maki knew how to rescue such situations, she just had to smile and give a hum which could be interpreted as both agreeing and disagreeing, giving her enough wiggle room to rescue herself later. She learned this trick from her mother at dinners with her extended family and perfected it since then.

“I accept this as a _yes_” Nico’s mother said as she went for the freezer, pulling out a few slices of pink sugary marzipan cake. Either Maki did indeed rescue herself with her vague response or Nico’s family is now carrying out an unholy ritual which somehow involves cake. To Maki’s fortune the first option was correct… so far.

There were a few things Maki learned today. Firstly, Nico was acting all hurt and vulnerable towards her family regarding her leg, which may explain the cake leftovers in the freezer, yet contradicting yesterdays behavior as Maki had the impression Nico being rather mobile as this would imply that she either wanted to be spoiled by her family or she wanted to act tough in front of Maki before. Secondly, Maki found out about Cotaros immense talent as he proudly presented to her that he knew all combinations of disharmonic accords one could produce with a two octave toy piano.

“How did your friends react?” Cocoro asked, all but Cotaro still sitting at the kotatsu, Nico’s younger brother playing the small toy piano on the other side of the apartment. Since Maki was still slowly but steadily eating on her slice of cake which she felt was cut too big, Nico responded instead.

“We haven’t decided when we tell the others yet.”

“With our luck they all know by now anyway.” Maki answered, quickly swallowing before she did so.

“Shall I announce it then?” Nico reacted, pulling out her phone in quick fashion, already ready to formulate the message. Without hesitation Maki tried to stop the other girl, which in response just move her phone out of range. After trying to grab it another dozen times, Maki decided to give up as she knew Nico was just trying to upset her.

“So mean. Maki doesn’t want others to know about her feelings for Nico.” Nico pouted.

“Maybe I don’t want to rush everything.” Maki bit back, crossing her arms, just leading to Nico pouting even more, silence filling the room.

“Sooo.” Nico’s mother said, finally getting the attention of both girls, intensifying her gaze at the young redheaded girl sitting next to her daughter, trying to act as serious as possible “What’s your intention with my daughter?”

“Don’t ask me, she is the older one.” Maki answered, her facial expression varying from surprised to embarrassed while she was nervously twirling her curls.

“And you are the taller.” Nico hissed back, getting back to her typical defensive position, arms crossed, body posture turning away from Maki, yet tilting her head towards the other girl.

“Not my fault, you stopped growing in elementary school.” Maki defended herself. In some sense she was right, it really wasn’t her fault for Nico being of smaller size, on the other side Nico was still her senior so technically she was supposed to… _supposed to what?, _Maki wondered.

“Not my fault you stopped aging in high school.” Nico bit back.

“That doesn’t even make sense” Maki said, Nico’s mother humming in agreement to her statement, Nico giving her the most embarrassed glare.

“Pfff. Are you two already plotting against me?” Nico accused them, looking between the two, both somewhat smirking as she did. _Great, _Nico mumbled, realizing what kind of synergy these two were having.

“Well” her mother started once more, taking somewhat of an oddly long pause before continuing, “What are your intentions with Maki then, dear daughter?”

“Teach her cooking.” Nico instantly responded, giving a small glance at Maki, which certainly was enjoying the whole conversation so far, “… without her murdering me in the process.”

“I respect your high goals. You should start a bit smaller thought.” Maki declared, straightening her posture in a proud manner.

“So bad?” Nico’s mother asked, now concerned about not just her daughter but also her kitchen. While she got multiple daughters, there was just one kitchen.

“Ever saw flamed salad?” Nico asked, earning herself a punch to the shoulder, Maki glaring at her. Nico wasn’t able to understand the pianist. Just before Maki was joining in on the joke, yet now she felt offended? Nico knew it was surely a difficult task to pick up the other girls mood. Maybe she should spend more with Rin and Hanayo in order to learn how to handle a Maki.

“Don’t worry about it, we all start small.” Nico’s mother responded after she saw that Maki was feeling down. There were these times one will make jokes about themselves but still want others to argue against it and apparently this was such a time in her eyes. _For example, did you know that Nico recently began trying to play the piano?, _Nico’s mother followed up, Maki feeling genuinely surprised, eyeing the raven-haired girl curiously, her previous worries evaporated. Maki didn’t knew what she was feeling, just that it was making her happy. _She could teach Nico. She could spend time with her, ranting all day about her favorite compositions. Maybe they could even compose something together, for µ’s?_

“Moooom!” Nico pouted embarrassed, clearly an information Maki wasn’t supposed to hear apparently. Maybe her senior was just curious, maybe she wanted to surprise her, yet Maki’s thoughts were racing as she imagined all possible stuff they could do together. _They could play a piece for four hands, _something Maki dreamed of doing since forever. This could be something she could do with Nico? The last few days just felt surreal in comparison to the time before. Excited about all these possible scenarios, she quickly took another portion from her still remaining piece of cake.

“You never told me!” Maki broke the recurring silence after processing the information, an expecting expression graced her face.

“I was just curious, okay? It seems so easy when you do it. I just wanted to try.”

Maki realized that Nico may not have the desire to play the piano but instead wanted to put herself in Maki’s position. While Maki felt, that her dreams of composing with the other girl might have popped, her heart felt warming up on the thought of the other girl attempting to understand her, attempting to put herself in Maki’s position, trying to relate to her. Maki really felt flustered, yet she wasn’t sure how much of this she was just interpreting, but knowing the other girl, there was almost every time some sort of higher reason for doing something. Also, Maki knew, that the other girl was always lurking somewhere close when she attempted to play the piano in school. She always wondered who was being close-by all this time until she joined µ’s and later on, just as Nico was joining, she recognized her. So Maki always had a feeling of Nico liking the art of the piano, yet Maki might have wrongly thought this. Maybe instead Nico was looking at her all this time. Maki began blushing internally but apparently also externally as Nico was giving her a questioning look.

“All right, I leave you two love birds alone.” Nico’s mother said after observing the two girls as they were stuck between waiting for the other to say something.

“We are no...” Nico began, yet her mother’s smirk made her stop, leaving behind a fully blushing Nico, sitting next to a similarly embarrassed Maki.

The last day of the Christmas holidays was finally over and like most times, Nico had barely touched her homework, however this time she had an excuse. While she should have been able to proceed her math homework with a broken leg, she was hurt and in pain and also bedridden. There was no way the teachers would have no mercy on her in this traumatic and mentally exhausting situation, right? She even had a letter from her doctor stating the time she wasn’t allowed to participate in the school’s sport classes… It stated six weeks. While her leg was supposed to heal way faster, her unhealthy behavior of taking long walks in the night with cute red-headed girls wasn’t doing good for the healing process. As Nico was really looking forward to standing on a big stage once more she made a pact with herself to not push her limits before this cursed time frame was over. And Nico had a fool-proof plan for this. She just asked Nozomi to make sure that she doesn’t strain herself too much, otherwise the purple-haired girl would tell everyone about the night in the park. She really did it, she blackmailed herself. This wasn’t anything, Nico believed she would ever achieve in her entire lifetime, yet here she is. This strategy did only work because for some magical reason neither Maki nor Nico had told anyone about their relationship yet.

The time in school felt extraordinary boring. Before, Nico could just space out, relax with dancing and singing afterwards. Hence, she even missed the stupidly early and stupidly exhaustive training sessions. Nowadays she can do neither, because given her situation all the teachers had noticed her, which also implied that they try to interact more frequent with her in lessons. And this meant that Nico had to actually concentrate since she was called to give the answer approximately five times as often in comparison to the time before the holidays. Given this new situation, Nico felt exhausted just after the first class, even more after the second, which happened to be math, her favorite class by far… not.

“Nico-chi? Wanna grab something for lunch?” Nozomi’s voice traveled towards the exhausted girl, immediately putting her head on her desk to sleep as soon as the class was over since they had a forty minute break.

“I’m exhausted. Can you bring me something?” Nico grumbled, her head still resting on her arms, head tilted slightly sideways.

“Where is all the motivation from back then?” Nozomi hummed in a Nico-ish sort of voice. _Maybe Nozomi sucked out all of her energy?, _the small girl wondered.

“How can I blackmail myself when you give it away this early?” Nico responded, yawning shortly after.

“Who blackmails you?” Eli joined in after hearing just snippets of their conversation.

“Nobody. I was just joking to get our small bundle of despair out of the classroom. Fresh air is important to the healing process, right?” Nozomi responded, trying to defuse the situation before a chain reaction leads towards breaking her promise to Nico. Eli was too clever to let room for any sort of speculation, especially since she knew how to get information out of Nozomi.

“That’s a good idea. My little sister always used to drag me outside when I was down. Let’s go Nico.” Eli decided, giving the so called small bundle of despair a gentle touch on the shoulder. It was this moment Nico realized she may have made a teeny tiny error in her calculations. Who could blame her, giving her hate love relationship with the topic of math, yet it was her decision to ask Nozomi for help. Just now Nico might have figured out that Nozomi instead could just control poor little Nico with her knowledge in different ways.

“Fine.” the small girl answered in a forced way, grabbing her crutches slowly in an attempt to show her protest, yet instead of giving any comment, her classmates were just standing there, waiting for Nico as any comment may lead an argument of roughly given forty minutes.

After just five to ten minutes the three girls sat down at a free table in the cafeteria, Nozomi balancing not just hers but also Nico’s tablet as for obvious reasons the raven-haired girl couldn’t carry hers.

“Why did you drag me down here? The doctor said I shouldn’t stress my leg.” Nico argued, swinging around her fork in a demanding manner just as Eli managed to sit down next to Nozomi. Nico realized how the distance between their chairs has decreased over the last few times eating in the cantine.

“This includes nightly walks.” Nozomi added, curling up her lips as she noticed striking a nerve in Nico, Eli innocently humming in agreement. Why was there always an argument against Nico and why was Nozomi finding it every single time? Did this imply Nico was doing something wrong?

“You mean walking around in cosplay in the darkness counts?” Nico hissed back.

“My shrine maiden outfit is not cosplay. This is a very important tradition...” Nozomi began, Eli wondering whether she missed something as there was nothing to the other two girls conversation she understood.

“I’m sure you just like the outfit because your brea...” Nico argued not noticing how loud they become over the last few arguments before Eli stopped the conversation.

“Okay, what is wrong with you two?” Eli demanded, giving not just Nico but also Nozomi a stinky glare, “Did something happen I am missing? I want answers, now.” Both girls just looked at each other. Eli never showed this much authority in front of them. Silently they had to admit that they went overboard, quickly apologizing to each other but also to Eli. However the blonde girl wasn’t having any of it and still demanded an explanation as she was done with being left in the dark. So Nico explained how she went out the other day… with Maki and how she met Nozomi while omitting minor details like the feelings towards the red-haired girl, the kiss or anything that could lead to Eli thinking that there was a romantic motive behind it. Just two girls meeting up. Nico even went so far and explained how she was meeting Maki just because she had questions about the leg and what she should do about it. In fact, she explained it such innocent that Eli believed Nico in just being concerned about her medical history. Additionally, it was funny how Eli was rather asking Nozomi about the reasoning for her oddly late visit at the shrine and played down her hurt as she wanted to join the purple-haired girl back then.

A bit later Rin and Hanayo silently joined the table with two plates.

“How is your leg, nya?” Rin asked, inspecting the plaster from every angle.

“Better by the day.” Nico responded, “Isn’t Maki joining you two?” The girl noticed the odd occasion of a certain rich redhead not accompanying her two closest friends. Normally Nico would count herself as Maki’s closest friend, but she guessed the label must have changed to girlfriend by now.

“Maki is a bit… weird.” Rin answered concerned. Afterwards Hanayo explained how the pianist felt down the entirety of the day and how she was spacing out all the time. She wasn’t responding even after the teacher said her name twice. In the first break she was also spacing out in conversations with the others. This was definitively not normal Maki behavior. Nico was wondering what could have happened to induce this mood. Is it Nico’s fault? Did she do something weird last time they saw each other? Or maybe Maki had just a serious case of special girl problems?

Nico got kinda nervous while asking herself all these questions, noticing how her initial exhaustion disappeared. She would probably find the other girl in the music room, thus she decided to fake going to the toilet to escape the others, trying to move up the stairs in a fast manner. Closing in on the music room she began hearing the melody pressing outside the room, increasing in volume the closer she went. In a complicated manner Nico opened the door towards the music room, facing Maki, surprised about the visitor, heavy tears rolling down her eyes.

Something must have happened...


End file.
